Innocent Illusions
by Ayaui
Summary: What Sasuke doesn't know won't hurt him. Right? SasuNaru
1. Waitress Sobame

A/N: There are probably only a couple of spoilers in here but it's blended into lots of made up facts I came up with. So probably, if you read this and want to know if any of the things in here are true. They're probably not.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

The small, confined room was the only room that didn't smell of alcohol, smoke, or sweat from old men. There stood the nineteen-year-old girl. 

Granted, you weren't supposed to work in a bar until you were twenty-one but the girl wasn't about to tell them anything and they weren't in a hurry to check her age since she attracted most of the customers. And she acquired most of the money in the joint.

She stood there, isolated from the rest of the group, with her rose petals in poised in a frustrated pout. Most men would have choked on their food if they saw this. Her lips were like petals after all. They were supple, soft, and oh so _suckable_. It was tinted a soft rose pink. It was rather unnerving when she found that men had stared at her lips instead of what came out of it.

The girl's hands ran themselves down her body, smoothing out the wrinkles in the skimpy waitress uniform.

Her body had often received jealous stares from the women that would often pass her during work. Her body was full but frail. It was small but it had all the right things to entice and allure the other sex.

The girl's dainty fingers moved up to run it through her midnight black hair. Sometimes, if caught in the right light, her hair would glow a tint of blue before disappearing. They ended somewhere a little below her shoulders and layered around her heart-shaped, blemish free face.

She moved the wispy bangs that were bugging her eyes to the side.

Her eyes shined brightly in the dim room.

It was what men where most attracted to her when they saw her. Her bright blue eyes shined with innocence and other emotions that she couldn't hide. The blue in her eyes shined with a brilliance that rivaled a diamond.

She stood there working out the other kinks out of her appearance when the door squeaked open, alerting her of her friend's appearance. Her friend's shimmering, short red hair added brightness to the room.

"Akane," The girl's angelic voice called.

Her friend turned and smirked when she saw what was taking the girl so long in the private room. "Hey, Sobame. You better hurry. Kana's getting restless."

"I will." She answered quickly before fixing a few more things in her appearance. _There! Perfect!_

She turned back to her friend and smiled. "How do I look?"

The redhead ran her eyes down her friend's body and gave another smirk. "Hot. As. _Fuck_."

The comment made a bubbly laugh come out of the girl.

The two friend walked out of the room and down the hallway towards the restaurant/bar that knew the girl as 'Sobame-chan'.

But you might know the person by a different name.

Her real name is...

... Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

"Okay. So table four wants to order. Go!" Kana ordered. She was the manager of the bar and had the power to scare everyone into submission. 

Naruto did a quick nod and marched off.

If anyone told him a few months ago that he'd be using his Sexy jutsu to work at some bar, he... probably would've tried to do that for the sake of a good laugh.

He never thought that it would be a permanent job for him. If he could blame anyone, he would blame Tsunade Baa-Chan and himself.

It was a moment of peace (so far) in the village. There was no prisoners or anybody that need escorting. There was no war or dangerous ninja on the loose. Half Akatsuki members were dead so they went into hiding to make up some more devious plans. But for right now, they were silent.

Sasuke killed Orochimaru and was no where to be found. That part pissed Naruto off to no end. The intelligence squad were looking around for clues but nothing could be found.

There were no missions for him. Top missions came rarely and when they did come, they were given to a squad before Naruto could volunteer. The minor missions were give to the Genin. Naruto was a Jounin.

His rank could've been higher if he hadn't lost his anger and go on a rampage in earlier missions. He remembered one time when he almost killed his teammate, Sakura.

After that happened, he was determined to control himself. It didn't work all the time but he could control his temper more easily.

Well, he had enough control not to go into another transformation (it happened only a _few_ times these past years) but that didn't mean he wouldn't burst into the Hokage room and blast Tsunade Baa-Chan's head off if she gave a mission to anyone rather than himself.

Years pasted and all his friends were near their twenties. Naruto was nineteen. He grew up and learned some new techniques. At the same time, he perfected his other techniques.

Take the Sexy Jutsu for example. Before, he could only turn into a naked busty blonde with blue eyes that still had his fox markings.

Now, he could change into anyone and anything he wanted. He turned his hair into multiple colors and changed his body's into multiple body figures. He could change eye color and add little traits if he wanted (freckles, maybe a little black dot by his mouth) and remove his traits so no one would know it was him.

His transforming became so good, he could probably change into one of his friends and Kakashi's sharingan wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Naruto could look at how someone would move and exchange only a few words before transforming into them. The only way someone would know that Naruto changed into someone was when the village became all quiet because Naruto wasn't there to liven it up.

_I swear_. Naruto thought. _Everyone would be pretty bored without my help._

The reason that it was Tsunade's fault because she wouldn't give him missions. That meant that there was absolutely nothing to distract him from the anniversary of the day Sasuke left.

So Naruto happily got himself drunk at this very bar. That was why it was Naruto's fault that he worked at the bar, too.

He accidentally stumbled into somewhere where he couldn't be seen and transformed into the form he was now (he had dubbed the transformation the best he came up with yet).

No one noticed that he climbed onto stage but they did notice when he started dancing. Doing a sultry dance he guessed.

His mind made him think that he was in a dream filled with ramen. But some obnoxious bastard wouldn't give him the damn ramen unless he danced suggestively for it.

It was weird but it made sense in the dream. As all dreams do.

Well, when he finally was in his right mind, he grabbed the stage's curtain and ran. But on the way, the manager (Kana) stopped him and offered him a job.

The stage was littered with bills that ranged all the way from a dollar bill to a hundred bill. Apparently, he brought in twice as much money the club normally made in a month.

Naruto said no, obviously. But then, they offered to pay him three hundred dollars a day. Since there were no more missions, he didn't have any job to make any money.

And he was starting to miss eating at Ichikaru's Ramen Bar.

He had to take it. He'd been working for a few months but he quickly became the customers' favorite waitress.

First, he had approached the men timidly. Then, he tested different personalities to see which attracted men the most.

It turned out that they were attracted by confidence and innocence.

Being confident and innocent were easy. Naruto would always get flustered when men would flirt, tease, or openly admit that they wanted him. It was always an embarrassing moment.

He absolutely hated when men would grab him. He could almost dodge every hand that reached for him but occasionally, he would feel a caress on his ass and turn around to see a man smiling at him.

He would run away while the men laugh behind him at his 'innocent' behavior.

It sucked that he had to be a girl to get money but then again, he _was_ training (practicing his jutsu, dodging perverted attacks which would help him dodge enemy attacks, maintaining perfect chakra level so his image doesn't slip, sneaking around in the place that was only meant for girls without being caught, so you could say he was sneaking around enemy base) and making money. So it worked out.

Naruto gave a polite smile at the table. There was a man and woman (no doubt that they were together). There was another man with them. They probably brought him with them to hook them up with the sexy waitress (a.k.a. Naruto himself).

Naruto couldn't count the numerous times that had happened.

"How can I help you?" He asked in his naturally bubbly tone towards the couple.

The man turned towards Naruto and ordered for him and his girlfriend. He quickly wrote down the order before turning towards the lonely friend.

"How about you, sir? What do you want?" He could see the man thinking of something smart to say when he heard Naruto's pseudo voice.

The man motioned for Naruto to get closer.

"I'd like some wine, steak, well done. And for dessert," He leaned up and whispered to Naruto. "I want you in my bed with whip cream and strawberries."

Naruto flushed and narrowed his eyes. "So that's wine and steak. Call me if you want anything else."

He walked away quickly and heard the couple trying to assure their friends that Naruto was just 'shy'.

He clipped the sheet onto the rail for the chef and turned toward Kana.

She always had an order ready to give out. Especially since she only had five waitresses to maintain the place.

No one knew why she wouldn't just hire more help.

Akane came up behind Naruto. "That guy's checking you out! He's a_ major_ cutie."

Naruto turned toward the direction she was pointing at and saw the pervert from before. He flashed his teeth at Naruto and gave a wave.

Akane, along with a girl named Miyu, were his closest friends at the bar. There were other two waitresses. They were nice to him when he talked to them but he could feel their hostile and jealous glares at him behind his back.

He found himself becoming guilty when the girls began undressing in front of him. But he would give no resistance when they started undressing, he would feel guilty about that later. _Action first, think later._

"He's okay."

"You never like any of the guys I pick out for you. Do you even like guys?"

"Of course I do! They're... yummy-licious." He lied. The words left a bitter taste in Naruto's mouth but he didn't want to seem out of the ordinary.

"Fine. Let's go before Kana yells at us."

They walked over towards the middle of the counter where Kana was. She took care of the customers at the bar while the waitresses took care of the rest.

Kana sent Akane off before turning towards Naruto. "There's a man here tonight. He's alone but Miyu just told me that he looks awfully rich. Go serve him and work your magic. Good luck, Sobame-chan."

Naruto nodded and headed off. Midnight Illusions (the name of the place) served many different types of people. Some would just be goons off the street and others would high-class lords.

One of the waitresses would guard the door and greet guests but also, telling us how much money they looked like they owned and junk like that.

Often, the rich men, middle-class, and lower-class would be segregated. It wasn't like the rich men got some special treatment (that's only for the people who reserve something before they come) but the rich people, just sit by the rich people. They were just put in separate sections but all of them could clearly see the stage.

Midnight Illusions was a number of things. It was a restaurant and a bar all days of the week. It was also a gentlemen's club on weekends.

Naruto didn't work Saturday's and Sunday's but he did work on Friday's. That helped him out a little when men want a special performer or just his persona's body to get up there.

Customers were disappointed when Naruto refused to give them _that_ kind of entertainment. Most nights, men would all root for Naruto to get on stage and give them a sexy little dance.

But they would never get what they want.

Before Naruto could answer the special guest, he gave the orders to the table from before.

The man and woman 'thank you'ed before turning away. Naruto placed the order in front of the perverted man and began to walk away when the man's hand reached for him.

He dodged out of the way before the man grabbed his butt. "Aww. You're tricky. Thanks for the food, _Sweet Cheeks_."

He grinned and eyed Naruto's butt as Naruto tried to walk away as fast as he could.

The next destination was to go to the cornered section for customers who want their privacy. The special guest's table was coming into view (it's the farthest place from the bar) when Miyu's platinum blonde hair jumped at him.

She grinned down at him. "This rich guy is pretty cute. Maybe you'll like this one."

Akane showed up out of nowhere and smirked.

"Come on. She likes no one." Akane twisted her head to look at the guest and came back up with a shocked face. "Wow! He's a looker. Maybe this one could be an exception. This guy is _hot_!"

They did a special giggle before running off. Naruto wondered if this was worth his job. _Yes._

This was probably the highest paying job he could find.

Naruto turned towards the table the girls were looking at earlier and suddenly became breathless.

He could feel the girls heated stares as his jaw dropped at the sight before him.

_Sasuke?!_

* * *

A/N: Review. Please. 


	2. Rude Stranger

A/N: Here's the second chapter. Just to mention beforehand. I'm sorry if you're bothered by the OC's in this story but I needed some interactions between Naruto and workers but I couldn't use the girls from Konoha or else that would ruin the plot.

Anyways, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my dad. Happy Birthday!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

The first instinct Naruto had was to go jump Sasuke, stuff him into a bag, bring him back to Konoha, and tie him up while laughing maniacally. 

But instead, he controlled himself. He learned that most of his anger issues came from topics about Sasuke. He used Sasuke to initiate anger and to try to control it. It helped a little.

But what helped the most was the fact that Naruto would get fired if he jumped another person. It just happened to be a coincidence that two other men came here and just happened to look like Sasuke and it just happened that Naruto had the sudden urge to tackle that guy down.

Kana yelled at him but if you really thought about it, the men didn't seem to mind actually when Naruto landed on top of them. But that would never stop Kana from getting you.

Naruto approached the table and grew more irritated that the guy looked exactly like Sasuke. The other two men had that subtle differences that helped Naruto know that they were different and regret from jumping on them.

Then again, Naruto didn't know how Sasuke aged but the man just looked so terribly similar.

Naruto pushed his irritation away and let his bubbly persona take over.

"Hello! Are you new here? I haven't seen you around. My name is Sobame-chan and I'm going to be your waiter today. So what would you like?" Naruto gave the man his best enthusiastic voice.

He closed his cell phone and looked up slowly from the menu, as if he was reluctant to do something unpleasant. Naruto was peeved but stopped making faces when the man gave him a penetrating glare. "I would like it if you would leave me alone. I'll ask for your assistance when I _actually _need it."

Naruto hand clenched around the pen he was holding as he forced the words out. "Why! Of course, _sir_."

Naruto walked away angrily and nearly ran back when he heard the man mutter 'airhead' under his breathe. _What the hell is wrong with this guy?_

As soon as he was out of eye range from the man, his two friends grabbed him.

Akane was the first one to talk. "Oh my god! Isn't he cute? What'd he say to you? What's he like? Do you like him?"

Miyu seemed hyper also. "We saw the way you were eyeing him. I told you! He is soo cute! You guys are such a cute couple!"

Naruto had to wave them off. And the girls back at Konoha said that _he_ had too much energy!

"He's a frigid ass. That's all there's too it." The girls stopped their excited bouncing and their expression turned to shock.

"But! He's soo cute! Why do all the cute ones have to be jerks?!" Miyu whined.

"How can so much beauty be wasted on a jerk? That isn't right!" Akane groaned.

Naruto stood there, immobilized by their bi-polar attitudes.

"Unless," Miyu said. She was clearly the romantic of the group. "he's a bad boy. Rough on the outside and soft on the inside."

"Aww! It's just like the movies!" Akane gushed.

Naruto left as soon as the two girls started becoming excited again. Even if he spent a few months pretending to be a girl, they were still a complete mystery to him.

"Whatever."

As soon as he reached the counter, Kana sent him off to deliver desert back to... the pervert. _Again?!_

Naruto set the plates down in front of the couple and looked at the man. "You didn't order anything?"

He grinned at Naruto and made him instantly regret asking. "I already ordered desert. I'll be waiting back at my place, Sweet Cheeks."

Naruto just simply walked away. He was sent off again by Kana to serve another rude customer. The Sasuke-look-alike.

The man was speaking on his cell phone again. Apparently, a very urgent business call.

Naruto waited for a while. For about three minutes before tapping the man's shoulder.

"Wait a minute," The man twisted his head and glared. "_What_?"

Naruto really wanted to punch this guy.

"Are you ready to order now?"

"Yes, I am. The service takes so damn long." _I'd like to kick you in the-_

"I'm sorry about that. Well, here I am. What would you like?"

"I'd like this." He pointed at the menu. "And get me this drink."

He pushed the menu away from him before Naruto could read the words.

Naruto, annoyed, went over to pick it up and wrote down the entrees.

"Wait. Let me check what the waitress wrote. She looks like a bubble-head that couldn't spell her name right." The man said into the cell phone.

Naruto almost broke the pen under his grip. The Sasuke-look-alike looked up and took the sheet from Naruto.

"Wow." He said, dryly. "You actually got my order wrong."

Naruto snatched the small notebook back and flipped to the correct page. "_This_ is where I wrote your order down, _sir_."_I've never wanted to hit someone so bad in my life!_

The man took it back and looked at it boredly. "Good. You got everything right."

Naruto took the notebook back and marched away, muttering about something about 'slam', 'chair', and 'head'.

Of course, Akane and Miyu were there to interrogate Naruto as soon as he came back.

He explained the situation of what happened to him and then told them his solution with very violent, and descriptive details.

"You know what?" Miyu asked. "I'm going to serve him his food then. I wanna see if this guy is actually that bad."

"You don't know what you're actually asking for, Miyu-chan." Naruto began making a plan. He could go into the bathroom and make a shadow clone that could give him at least one good punch at the guy before disappearing. Meanwhile, Naruto would be innocently working.

But then again, Naruto would never take that risk. The bar was surprisingly one of the safest place he's known. He would see ninjas pass by occasionally but they would never bother the place. So he would never bother them. He didn't want to bring danger into the happy environment of the bar.

Naruto continued to work. He took orders and handed out food. It was the afternoon which was always the busiest. Actually, the night shift was but Naruto never stayed passed nine.

It took him about an hour to get back to Konoha and relax for the night in his apartment and chow down on some ramen. It was actually the idea of becoming a man again that got Naruto to stare at the clock from time to time.

He thought of going back to the inviting apartment and stripping down to noting but his boxers and just do absolutely nothing! That would be a dream, considering that right now, the perverted man stayed at his table while the rest of his friends left. He eyed Naruto as he walked by delivering orders.

Later, Miyu took the food to the 'beautiful stranger' as Akane called it. She came back looking depressed.

Akane and Naruto were quick to jump to anger while Miyu was quick to going into a depressed state.

"What'd happened?" Akane gasped out.

"He's soo mean!"

"I told you." They glared at Naruto and he backed off. "I mean. I warned you. What did that mean man do to you?"

She shrugged her shoulders but started talking anyways. "I was just being nice and I introduced my self and he goes 'What the hell? Another one?' and he just acted like an asshole. He said I was a blonde!"

"Umm. You are a blonde Miyu." Naruto said.

"I know _that_! He was saying that I was another dumb blonde! God, I freaking hate it when people say that."

"Oh."

"And oh my god! I have to tell you the rest of what he did." Kana looked at them. "Actually, Kana would kill us. I'll tell you later."

She walked solemnly away as Akane clucked her tongue.

"Damn. So much beauty wasted on an ugly soul. The shame! The shame I tell you!" She muttered dramatically.

Akane and Miyu walked back to the bar to receive orders. Naruto walked around to see if anybody needed anything.

He smiled politely at the other customers before narrowing his eyes in frustration when he saw the pervert again. And he looked like he need something. _Damn it!_

Naruto walked up to the man and tried to smile as nicely as he could. "Hello. Are you done?"

He looked up at Naruto and gave another grin. "Nope. I'm waiting for my dessert."

_I give him a point for persistence but this is getting tiring. _Naruto thought.

"I think you should go, sir."

"Not until I get some dessert."

"Fine." He perked up. "I guess you'll never leave now."

His happiness disappeared but was replaced with determination. "Well. I think you'll crack eventually."

"And I think you're going to face my wrath if you start to bother me." Naruto smiled menacingly. "So don't bother me."

Naruto may look like a girl because of his jutsu but he still had his manly strength even after the transformation.

The man eyed Naruto's fake frail body and smiled. "I don't think I have to worry about that."

Was he implying that Naruto was weak? Oh boy, he's in for a shock.

"What do you-"

"Sobame!" Miyu called.

Naruto left the pervert before he could do any real damage. "What?"

Miyu pointed toward the stranger from before. "The beautiful stranger. Can you go give him the bill? None of us feel like doing it."

Naruto sighed before venturing out toward the man. He chanted in his mind that he wouldn't get mad. He wouldn't pummel him. He wouldn't hurt him in any physical way. At all. Not even a pinch.

Naruto approached the table and fake smiled at the man. "Are you done, sir?"

"Yes. If you would look, you could see that. Go get me the bill." Naruto happily grabbed the sheet he brought with him. He wanted this guy out of here _fast_.

"Here you go, sir."

The man eyed the check before taking out some bills. He stood up and started walking out.

Naruto walked away with a bounce in his step, giddy that the troublesome man was gone.

Everything was fine until Naruto heard the man say into his cell phone.

"This is the shittiest place I've ever been to. Full of useless sluts... Who the hell cares what they look like? They're all bimbos with no brains. I can't believe you actually told me to come here. The food's not that great either... The service is annoying... I don't care if you think they're hot... No. I-"

"TEME!"

Becoming an employee here, Naruto met new people and became friends. They also told him about their past, their present, and their dreams. He knew that their life wasn't perfect but they were freaking trying.

Akane was a single mother with a child that was two years old. Miyu's dad left her and she's trying to help her mother pay the bills to support her little brother. And Kana, as bossy as she may be, she worked her ass off to get her tiny business soaring into new heights.

They weren't his closest friends but they _were_ friends and he wasn't going to let some jerk come here and insult them.

And Naruto really wanted to hit this guy and the man just gave him the perfect excuse to use.

Naruto grabbed the man's shirt and lifted him up. "You bastard! How dare you? You think you can just come in here and insult us. What the hell is your problem?"

"Sobame! Sobame!" Kana called. She ran over and tried to pry Naruto's hands off.

Naruto held him in the air for a few more moments while growling at him before he ceremoniously dumped the man on the floor and walked away. He could feel the man's murderous glare on his back but he didn't care.

"Stupid teme." He muttered under his breathe. That man was lucky that there were witnesses around.

He turned his head to the other problem that was aggravating him today.

The pervert paled when he saw Naruto look at him. Before, he would've just grinned and waved.

Naruto plopped himself down right next to him.

"Are you done yet? I'm having a bad day. I don't know what I'd do if someone else bothers me." He stated, menacingly.

He could see the man's body shaking. "Umm... Yes. I'm done."

"Good."

Naruto put down the bill and walked away. He heard the fumbles before the man abruptly ran out of the bar.

The two friends he defended before snickered.

"You scared that poor man away." Akane laughed.

"Aww. You hurt the beautiful stranger." Miyo pouted.

"He deserved it."

"He's still here. You know?" Akane pointed out.

Naruto turned and saw the heated gaze of the Sasuke-look-alike. He froze for a moment before giving a defiant look back.

The man pushed away Kana's attempt to help him. He stood and quickly left.

He was gone and Naruto hoped that he would never come back.

Soon. Hoots and hollers filled the air as men cheered Naruto on.

"Woo! You go girl!"

"That's what happens to men who don't respect women!"

He felt almost proud and wanted to smile until he felt his boss's glare.

He gulped when he turned to find himself under the heated stare. _Crap. I'm gonna die. Aren't I?_

"Sobame!" She didn't add her usual friendly 'chan' to the end of his name. He was in big trouble. "What the _hell_ were you thinking? You just scared away a potential client and you-"

The excitement died down, and the whining and begging for help soon came from the customers. Men back at the bar were complaining for lack of service.

Kana turned her deadly eye toward Naruto. "I'll talk to you after your shift."

Naruto gulped but he wasn't that worried.

His transformation's body was packed with sin. Men couldn't resist it.

Kana wouldn't fire her most valuable employee but she wasn't scared to yell at him until he went deaf.

He worked and waited on tables. He dodged more attacks by perverts and his mood changed into a happy one when he realized that he hadn't been touched the whole day.

After his shift was over, his prediction turned out right when Kana's voice thundered in the room that was deemed as her 'office' into his _very_ sensitive ear.

Naruto went into the locker room and changed out of his waitress outfit.

He noticed weird looks come at him before when he wore the uniform all the way home. Actually, he changed back to a guy when he was halfway there but they didn't need to know that.

So he went into a store and bought some clothes that he thought was decent for a girl. Although, he did receive some weird looks from the store clerk.

Akane and Miyu showed up for their usual conference before Naruto left.

"You're such a good girl. Coming home at decent hours." Miyu smirked.

"Not that much of a good girl. Did you see what she did to that guy? If she's a good girl, then the world has ended." Akane commented which made Naruto smile.

"Aww. That beautiful stranger?" The word beautiful combined with that jerk made Naruto's smile slip.

"I don't understand why you guys call that jerk beautiful stranger. He's more of a... rude stranger."

Naruto was confused when the girls laughed.

"Rude stranger? Nice one, Sobame-chan but not very catchy. Besides, it's too much trouble to change beautiful stranger's name." Akane said.

"Beautiful stranger's name? You're already giving him a nickname when you don't even know his real name?"

"Of course, Sobame-chan. We _don't_ know his name so that's why we're giving him a name. We don't wanna call him 'that guy'. Honestly, sometimes you're too slow on the uptake." Miyu told him in a friendly way so he knew she didn't really mean it.

"Whatever. Well, I gotta go. See ya."

"See ya." Miyu and Akane harmonized.

Naruto left the dressing room, dodged more perverted attacks, and walked out of the bar.

He breathed in the fresh air and to the naked eye, disappeared.

His leg muscles welcomed the pleasant exercise as he whipped past the scenery. He loved it when he was out of the bar and just let go.

As soon as he was back at his apartment, he made himself ramen and stripped down (as he said before) to his boxers before turning on the TV.

It was hard to pretend to be a girl for most of the day. He loved his 'man' time.

When he finished his ramen, he threw it at the wastebasket. _Missed._

He looked at where he was and where the cup landed. _I'll get it tomorrow._

Naruto crawled to his room and jumped on his bed. With the new job, he could actually afford one.

He looked up at the ceiling and thought about his day. _God, it was horrible._

His hand turned into a fist as he thought about the Sasuke-look-alike. _He looks like Sasuke. _

Naruto adjusted his pillow. _He pisses me off like Sasuke._

Naruto turned to his side. _But he can't be Sasuke._

He shifted again and clenched his pillow before quickly falling to sleep.

_It can't be that easy._

* * *

Naruto walked through the village in his routine. He wanted to see his friends before he headed off to work. 

He popped into the Konoha flower shop and had a quick conversation with Sakura and Ino.

"Well, I gotta go to work. See ya!"

"Gosh. We never see you anymore." Sakura said.

"He's probably just sneaking off to his secret lover." Ino smirked before her face turned serious. "Wait. _Are_ you sneaking off to your secret lover?"

Naruto noticed that Sakura became quiet and he was never one to miss a quick jab. "There's no need to be jealous, Sakura-chan. I don't have a secret lover."

"BAKA! I'm not jealous!"

"Whatever you say, Sakura-chan." He ran toward the door before he got Sakura even angrier. "Bye!"

He walked down the road and said quick hello's to people who were familiar.

Naruto saw Sai by the gate and smiled. "Hey, Sai! You miss me?"

The man's face flickered a small bit of surprise before his emotions became nonexistent again.

"I would but it's just so peaceful around here now."

"Bah! Whatever. You know you guys miss me. Well, gotta go to work." Sai gave him a quick nod and let him out of the gate.

He ran forward and enjoyed the sweet bliss of the wind whirling around his face.

So far, Naruto was in a good mood, and he planned to keep it that way.

He had erased yesterday's memories.

After what he did to the men yesterday, he wouldn't be surprised if they never came back.

When he reached the bar (he usually transformed on the way), he changed into the uniform and headed toward Kana.

"Hey, Kana!"

"Hey, Sobame. There's a customer in the corner section. Don't screw this up again!"

Naruto thought she meant that there was a new customer that he wasn't supposed to harass.

He never expected to turn around and see the Sasuke-look-like.

_Again?_

* * *

A/N: Review. Tell me what you think:) 


	3. This Chance

A/N: Here's the third chapter!

To BitterSweet27: The bar's location was supposed to be explained in this chapter so I hope it helps you. Hmm. About the guy, you'll find out in this chapter but I'm guessing you guys already know. But Naruto doesn't so it'll be fun to twist him around. :P Yes, this is canon. Well, I think it is. Is SasuNaru canon? Yes, Sasuke killed Orochimaru and no, he didn't kill Itachi. I need Itachi for something later in the story. :) And my friend told me once when she saw Sakura and Ino talk into cell phones although she can't remember where. I thought it was weird, too but it would be fun to have Sasuke talking in a cell phone.

**Disclaimer: I do not Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

"He's back." Miyu told Naruto from the door way. "Again!" 

"Crap!"

"Maybe he likes you." She muttered which furthered Naruto's irritation.

It shocked everyone that the man had returned after the first day. It shocked everyone even more when he returned again. And again. And again.

"Oh, come on! He's been here for like... what? Two weeks now? There _has_ to be a reason for why he keeps on coming back here." Miyu said boredly.

"I lifted him up and dropped him on the ground! Not to gently either!" He retorted. She just shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe he's into that slave and master stuff. You know, chains and whips." It was a second before she barked out a laugh. "Wow. That's a funny mental image. You over him with a whip while he's tied onto a bed. Funny yet disgusting at the same time."

"Don't talk about that! I'm already stressed as it is." He rub his head as he felt another headache come on. "Besides, I'm not that kinky."

"I don't want to find out how kinky you are, Sobame-chan."

Of course, she didn't want to know what he would do when it came to sex.

No! It wasn't because he had perverted urges in bed.

It probably would turn out weird if she realized that he wouldn't have sex the normal girl way. Because _he_ wasn't a girl.

"Shut up. I don't wanna talk about the guy. Okay?"

The Sasuke-look-alike bothered him to no end. He looked, and acted like Sasuke. But Naruto didn't want him to be Sasuke.

It would just turn out like every mission that's goal was to obtain Sasuke. It would just bring his hopes up before it crashed into a big pile of disappointment.

Naruto didn't want the man to come back. But whatever he did, it wouldn't work.

After the first day, Naruto dropped all his manners flat when it came to the guy. The man still came.

Naruto made it obvious that he was suspicious and that he wouldn't hesitate to spit into the man's food. Sasuke-look-alike still came.

He then started acting like he normally would to someone like... Ero-sennin. The unwanted man still came.

He would come at the same time everyday. He would sit in the same place everyday. Even employees were calling it the Beautiful Stranger's spot!

He would order the same thing everyday. He would sit there for an hour everyday. He would do everything the same!

It was starting to become a routine now. People were becoming _used_ to seeing him there.

The man wasn't being an ass like he was on the first day but he acted like... nothing!

He wouldn't be polite, and he wouldn't be rude. He'd barely talk at all!

Naruto tried to avoid the subject of the Sasuke-look-alike but it seemed he was now the center of the club's gossip.

Another plus, Naruto was the one who had to serve him _every time_ he came!

"Sobame-chan! Give the man his tea." Like right now.

Kana didn't have to give him specific instructions anymore.

He would know who she was talking about when she said 'the man'. It became obvious now when he was becoming a regular customer.

Not many regular customers came often since the bar was located in a small village.

The club's name was more known the village's name. Even Naruto didn't take any time trying to get a hold of the village's name.

It was just useless information.

The small village was probably only a small rest stop for travelers on the road between the Leaf Village and the Sand Village. Only a measly amount of two-hundred people lived here.

Naruto grabbed the tray and walked the familiar path toward the table.

"Here's you order." The only acknowledgment the man gave him was a small nod.

Naruto put the tray down. He didn't even flinch as the tray made a loud clap noise when he practically dropped it onto the table.

The Sasuke-look-alike was unaffected by the noise and picked up his cup. He sipped it quietly while Naruto grinded his teeth in aggravation.

_If you're not gonna leave me alone, at least show some emotion!_ Naruto thought.

He walked back to Kana and then went and served the other customers. When there was a moment of rest, Naruto would look over at the table where the Sasuke-look-alike sat.

Most times, the man would just sit there and stare into the cup. There were a few times that he would actually drink it.

He probably didn't like the food that much here. So the question kept running through Naruto's head. _Why is he here?_

The question came to his mind every time he looked at the man.

He only ordered tea whenever he came and he always took his damn time with it. _Who spends an hour drinking one cup of tea?_

Apparently the man did, since he did it everyday he came here.

Akane came over and smirked when she saw that Naruto was looking at the man. "Admiring from afar, Sobame-chan?"

Naruto walked away as the girl giggled at his behavior.

It was getting annoying when the girls tried to hook him up with men at the bar. He once told them he had a boyfriend but then they insisted on wanting to meet the nonexistent man. He once agreed to go on a date because of their persistent nagging. It was horrifying and embarrassing. It was a secret he would keep to the grave.

It made him question if he should work in the bar but he wanted to earn enough money so that next time there was a period of peace, he would be able to lay around doing nothing while being financially supported.

But then, he didn't know if he could stand the girls, the perverted men, and the Sasuke-look-alike. _Maybe I should tell them I'm a lesbian?_

That would solve the girls and the men but it wouldn't solve the other problem.

Naruto was spending his free time glaring at the man. Eventually, he was forced to see if the man was done. He secretly took the bill with him so the man could just pay and get out.

"Are you done?"

The man pushed the tray away. Naruto wordlessly picked it up and put the bill down.

"I don't know if I should bring you those anymore." Naruto said, signaling toward the paper. "You probably know how much you have to pay already."

"Hn."

Naruto's eyes widened as the tray slipped from his hand. _Did he just-_

The loud bangs of the tray and cup on the floor snapped Naruto out of his thoughts.

He bent down to pick them up when the raven haired man beat him to it and held it up to him.

Naruto looked at him and they both looked at each other before Naruto grabbed the tray and walked, almost ran, away. He put the things on the counter before turning back to look at the man.

The place was extremely crowded this night but Naruto was able to instantly find the man.

The Sasuke-look-alike turned his head and the two locked gazes. Suddenly, the man turned toward the exit.

Usually, Naruto felt a little pang of glee fill him about right now but instead, his instincts were yelling at him.

His instincts were always right.

In battle, his instinct usually helped him from being killed. It made him do things that usually ranged from a small turn to the left to making him cheat death and make him do something dangerous/stupid to win.

But his instincts were usually just small feelings that alerted him but now, they were so strong they left Naruto gasping for air. They made him _want_ to go after the man that he didn't know a single thing about.

Naruto ran after the man out the door. He pushed through the crowd and reached for the man. But the Sasuke-look-alike just kept walking.

"Wait!" Naruto was so close.

The man turned back and looked at him before the door closed him off. Naruto ran out the door and looked around. "Where the hell are you?"

"Hey." The man said without looking at Naruto. "What do you want?"

Naruto turned at him with anger.

"Look! I don't know what you're planning but I know you're up to something. Before you get your revenge, tell me what's your name." The man looked at Naruto with interest. "So then I know who I have to kill when something happens."

"Heh." The man sounded almost... amused.

"So are you going to tell me or what?" Naruto was getting impatient. Now that the heat of the moment was gone, he suddenly felt really stupid.

The man leaned his head to left as if he were contemplating over something difficult.

"If you're not gonna tell-"

"I have a proposition for you." The man interrupted.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I_ might_ tell you my name if...," He paused as if he had to do more thinking. "...you have dinner with me."

If this was any normal situation, Naruto probably would've laughed his head off at the concept of Sasuke asking out a girl. He didn't know if the man _was_ Sasuke but he looked enough like him to make any _normal_ situation funny.

But this wasn't a normal situation because Sasuke-look-alike was asking_Naruto_ out and the intensity of the man's gaze was simply suffocating.

The man's expression was so serious and haunting that Naruto couldn't help himself when he chocked out the answer...

"O-okay."

* * *

_What the hell did I get myself into?_ Naruto thought miserably. 

After the man left yesterday, he smacked himself in the head when he realized he had agreed a date with the Sasuke-look-alike.

It didn't help when someone heard their conversation and then spread the gossip to everyone around the club. Akane and Miyu overheard and told Kana. Then, they told her how empty Naruto's love life was which made Kana pity him. Then, he received the happy news that Kana was going to let him off work early for his _date_. You can imagine his excitement.

The man didn't come at his usual time but it was probably because he was going to pick him up later. Or that's what his friends told him which brought him down from his moment of happiness.

It seemed _every_ single person at the bar knew about his date. Men were asking him why he wouldn't date them, his two friends were giggling every time he came over, and Kana was giving him proud smiles whenever he looked at her. This was really weird.

How could one date change everything?

Naruto didn't even call it a date! The man had asked him to have _dinner_ with him. Naruto did not hear a single word out of the man's mouth the resembled the word 'date'. Not one word. _So why is everybody making a big deal out of it anyway?_

And then, the man came. It wasn't as if he showed up in a tux with a dozen roses or anything special like that. He just showed up, normally. Like he usually did.

But it still had the same effect on Akane and Miyu as the whisked him away and tried to primp him up. Although, they never got a chance to do anything after they pulled out their make up kit.

No way in _hell_ was Naruto ever going to put on make up. So he shoved them out of the dressing room and slapped on a t-shirt and pants and went outside to greet the world with his plain outfit.

His two friends made a remark about how they never noticed how much of a tomboy Naruto was. Which then caused him to make an unlady-like snort and have some people stare at his. But at that very moment, he didn't care.

If people were going to give him special treatment, he was going to take advantage.

But then, worst part of the day came up. The actual date.

Sasuke-look-alike walked him to a outdoor cafe and they sat down. Then, they ordered the food.

The place was jaw-droppingly beautiful. The food was mouth-watering worthy. They were even playing a romantic song to try to get them into the _mood_. But how could Naruto get into the _mood_ when the most important thing that was needed for the dinner-not-date was...

To put it simply, the conversation and communication between Naruto and the Sasuke-look-alike was absolutely, positively DEAD! It made the atmosphere turn into an awkward silence instead of a comfortable, relaxed one. Naruto had to choke down his food because the atmosphere was too tense. The scenery never even entered Naruto's mind.

The whole dinner-not-date was described in this cycle. Naruto would make a comment and wait for the man to speak. The man would stare at Naruto. Naruto would stare at the man. Naruto made another comment and started the cycle over again.

_What the hell did I get myself into?_ Naruto thought as the man stared at him. He stared back in another futile effort to top the man. Naruto questioned if the man stayed home and practiced staring.

"So... uhh... the food's pretty good. Why didn't you order anything for yourself? I don't want to be the only one eating." Naruto looked up to meet a blank stare. "You know you're supposed to eat something at dinner. It's the normal thing to do." No emotions showed up on the man's face at all. "You're supposed to talk to someone you treat. It's called _manners_." Another blank stare. "You know, you could make a cow go upstairs but it's impossible for it to be able to go downstairs."

Naruto waited for some change in the man before he sighed and pushed his plate away. "Honestly, I don't even know why I'm here."

"Hn." The man grunted.

Naruto stared at him, surprised. _I actually got him to do something!_

The man looked at Naruto a few more seconds before opening his mouth. "I don't know what compelled me to bring you here anyway."

"Then... why..." Naruto said. The man was getting him confused.

"Try listening. I don't know. It's not as if you're that beautiful." Strike one. the transformation he was in was his best. Naruto didn't want to think of all the days he spent perfecting it. "You're not that intelligent." Strike two. _Who the hell insults someone they're supposed to be treating? _

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he fisted his hands. His breathing became erratic while the Sasuke-look-alike just kept on adding more fuel to the fire. "You're don't intrigue or interest me in any way possible. You're nothing special and just another dumb girl who thinks she can get everything by looks. I don't know why I even bothered ta-"

"That's it!" Naruto stood up quickly and lifted his fists into a fighting stance. "You wanna go?!"

Naruto and the man had another staring contest except this time, it was hard to choose whose eyes were scarier. The man's beady, cold eyes or Naruto's blazing, dangerous eyes. The staring contest lasted a few more minutes before the man smirked and look away.

"So that's why." He whispered before he looked back to Naruto. "Sit down. You're embarrassing us."

Naruto looked around the restaurant to find that everyone _was_ staring at them. Or more specifically, him.

He put down his hands and bent down to pick up the chair... and the table that he conveniently flipped in haste.

Naruto plopped himself down on the chair and glared at Sasuke-look-alike before growling out the words. "This is all your fault."

He leaned back and continued glaring at the man.

"I was not the one who wanted that asked me if I wanted 'to go' in front of all these people."

"I wasn't the one who was insulting their dinner guest. You're a fucking idiot, you know? Why ask me to come here if you're just gonna insult me?"

"Hn." The action caused to aggravate Naruto even more.

"Damn you. Damn you to the deepest bowels of hell. You could at least say something to me." Naruto glared at the man again. Was the cycle starting over again? "If this is how you normally treat a person, I must say that your social skills suck. I mean, come on. Tell me. How many friends do you have? I bet not a lot if you treat them the same way you're treating me then I think maybe about... two. Two friends? Nope. Maybe you have no friends so then you're stalking me at the bar and-"

"Shut up." The man commanded.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and daringly said, "No."

The man looked at him before turning his head to motion for the bill. The waiter nodded and walked away to get it.

The Sasuke-look-alike placed his intertwined hands in front of his mouth in a stance that meant he was thinking. The waiter came back and Naruto pulled out his money. He looked over and realized the Sasuke-look-alike took out his wallet, too.

"I'll pay." Naruto said as he counted out the bills. He reached over to place it down but the man beat him to it. Naruto glared at the man's hand. "I said _I'll_ pay for it."

The man stared at Naruto and Naruto stared back. It continued on for a while until the waiter came back. He took the Sasuke-look-alike's money as Naruto tried to tell the man he was paying for it.

Of course, the man used his beady eyes to scare the waiter before he would take it. They walked out the cafe before the man turned left without pausing for Naruto.

"Damn it! Wait for me!" Naruto caught up and walked at a leisured pace beside the man.

"Dinner's over. Why are you still following me?" Naruto resisted the urge to puff out his cheeks and make a face at him.

"Our deal. I have dinner with you and you give me your name. Don't you remember? Besides, that was probably one of the worst dinners I've ever had so you better not think about leaving me without a name after all I went through." The man walked silently with his hands stuck in his pockets, still showing no emotions at all. "I still don't get you. You wouldn't tell me your name like any _normal_ person but you make me have dinner with you for it. You don't even_try_ to be a nice host like a _normal_person would. On top of that, you don't even talk. At all. You don't find me interesting at all yet you make me go through all this trouble. Is torturing people a hobby of yours?"

The man was silent as he continued walking while Naruto followed behind.

Naruto thought he saw something in the distance. _A... pier?_

The Sasuke-look-alike walked onto the dock as Naruto stood hesitantly behind.

"Hey! What are we doing here?" Naruto breathed in the fresh water before continuing. "You're not gonna drown me, are you?"

Maybe it was a trick of light or something but Naruto thought he saw the man carelessly shrug his shoulders.

Naruto sighed in aggravation before walking forward.

The full moon shined brightly as it brought some light to the dark, murky water of the small lake. Naruto looked around at his surroundings.

In the distance, lights were lit and then followed by the laughter of children and adults. Naruto could make it out as some sort of festival. Although, he was far from the joyous activities.

"How long are you gonna keep me out here? You know, you should've answered my _one_ question earlier 'cuz now I have _two_."

The man looked at Naruto before he sneered. "What?"

"Oh, cool! I got you to say something." Naruto saw the man's jaw tense so he hurried to ask his next question. "It's one of the things I probably asked before. You know, why did you make me go to dinner with you, go through all this trouble if you don't find me interesting or any of the other things you listed?"

Naruto stood back and waited for the man to answer. The man spoke before so that meant he could speak again.

Eventually, Naruto furrowed his eye brows when the silence remained undisturbed.

Clenching his hands at his side, he growled out the phrase that came naturally to him.

"Stupid teme."

Naruto turned around and began to walk away. He didn't care about the man's name anymore. It was clear that this was just a big waste of his time. Naruto never saw the way the man's whole body tensed and never saw his mouth opening.

"It's because you..." The man started which caused Naruto's head to whip around to stare at the man.

Was there some trick to make him speak? A hidden button or something?

Everything seemed to suddenly become quiet as all Naruto's focus went to the man who was currently slowly turning around. They looked at each other before the man tilted his head to the side with an annoyed expression showing on his face.

"The reason I asked you to come out here is... because you remind me of a person who used to be my friend." The man looked up at Naruto's shocked face before slowly walking up to him. He stopped beside Naruto. "And you can call me..." He lowered his head toward Naruto's ear and whispered. "... Sasuke."

And he walked away, leaving a speechless Naruto behind.

Naruto stood there with fragments of thoughts flying through his mind. Of course, he couldn't have a complete thought after the shock.

Then finally, he realized what the whole situation meant.

He turned around to see the retreating figure of his old friend before running to catch up to him.

The man didn't seem so surprised when Naruto ran up to his side as they walked away from the pier.

Naruto walked with his head bowed down. _What... what am I supposed to do now?_

So the silent figures ventured out into the night. Each trapped in their own thoughts.

* * *

Sunlight streamed through the window onto a disheveled blonde who was up probably for half the night. Lines circled Naruto's eyes as he looked at a speck of dust on the ground. 

This was another cycle he was dealing with.

He would blank out and then realize he would blank out. He would think of something else before blanking out again.

But some of that time was useful, it helped him devise a plan for trapping the infamous Sasuke.

He thought it over and over before he came to a conclusion.

If he told the village about Sasuke, they would most likely bring Sasuke back and lock him up until he agreed to come back to the village. He would probably be strapped down in an isolated cell while Jounin level ninjas took care of him. They would probably pick Naruto because he knew Sasuke best. Which brought him to another thought.

Could Naruto stand the hate in Sasuke's eyes as Naruto fed him or did something else to him while he was trapped?

Or... the other option was that Sasuke could continue resisting and then eventually get killed for being too dangerous.

And even if Sasuke did come out alive, there was no telling of the consequences that would come. Just because he was back didn't mean he would get along with Naruto after Naruto ratted him out. And what if Sasuke tried to escape again?

_He could've gotten smarter or stronger than all of us._ Naruto stressed.

Telling the village was out of the option. It had too many faults.

He thought of telling one of his friends but then it would either leak out into the village or Sasuke would be on to Naruto and be gone without a trace again.

He thought he should've at least told Sakura but then she would've wanted to see Sasuke. And Naruto didn't want the chance of Sasuke catching them.

So that was the plan. Somehow, Naruto had to convince Sasuke to come back to the village of his own free will.

And he would do it. Alone.

But there was one important thing that would ruin all of his planning.

_What if Sasuke doesn't show up at the bar today? _Naruto bit his lip as he thought about that major problem.

He leaned back onto the bed and let another thought drift into his mind._And what did Sasuke mean when he said 'a person who __**used**__ to be his friend'?_

The question ran through his mind and each time, it would bring another sinking feeling for Naruto. _Does that mean I'm not his friend anymore?_

Finally, he forced himself to start dressing before going off immediately for work. He didn't even go for his morning walk around the village.

As soon as he got to the bar, Naruto looked at the clock. He worked and served with his eyes glued to the contraption, waiting for it to strike the hour where Sasuke came in.

He didn't talk to his co-workers or boss. His mind was buried in his thoughts of failure, disappointment, and... hope.

Even if someone did say something to him, he was too absorbed to have small chat.

Everything revolved around the time. If Sasuke didn't show up on his regular time, all Naruto's planning would be wasted and he would feel the familiar bitter regret and resentment towards himself.

_If Sasuke doesn't show, then I ruined my chance. I had a chance to take him back and I wasted it. _ Naruto hoped that wouldn't happen.

A few customers called him and took away his attention, asking him ridiculous questions about combining meals.

"So you see, if you order the combo meal, you save a lot more money."

"Oh." The people murmured in agreement.

"Well, I'll come back later. Call me when you finished thinking." Naruto chirped in a giddy voice.

But as soon as his back was turned toward the customers, the smile was wiped off his face as his eyes traveled to the clock.

It was two minutes after the intended time. Naruto's eyes darted toward the entrance.

His breathing became short pants as he started to panic. His head whipped dangerously to the side as he looked for the man.

It was after a while before it occurred to him that he should look at the usual spot Sasuke sat at.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Sasuke sitting there. Who knew relief was such a good feeling?

_Of course, Sasuke's never late. _

Naruto went back and swiped a menu before going back to visit his old friend.

He gave a small smile (which Sasuke didn't return) and put down the menu. "What would you like?"

This time, Sasuke actually answered with some words.

Well, actually, he answered with only one word and nothing more. But still, it meant one thing. Progress.

He had at least gotten him to start speaking to him.

Naruto had to resist the temptation to skip back. He didn't know it before but his plan was already in motion before he planned it.

_I'm gonna bring you back, Sasuke._ Naruto vowed. _I'm not gonna waste this chance._

* * *

A/N: Meh. I'm not that satisfied. I wanted it to be longer. 


	4. Slowly Progressing

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

Now that he thought about it, Naruto didn't actually have a clue how to convince Sasuke to come back to the village actually. He was a big picture kind of guy. He knew the main important things but for the details... he stayed away from them. 

So he knew _what_ he had to do to bring Sasuke back. The problem was he didn't know _how_ to.

It was quite simple actually. All Naruto had to do was think of the reason Sasuke left and use that reason to bring him back. Well actually, it's not that simple.

Naruto knew that Sasuke left because he wanted revenge on his older brother, Itachi. So he had to take away Sasuke's reason for leaving which meant he would come back, hopefully. So there were two ways this problem would be solved.

He could either kill Itachi which would end the feud between the two brothers. But then, Sasuke might become angry at him for getting in the way. When Naruto actually thought about it, Sasuke was too much of a complicated person.

He wanted Itachi to be dead. But if Naruto killed him, Sasuke would get mad at him because he wanted to do it himself. Sasuke wanted to be the one who killed Itachi. But that's pointless, they would just arrive at the same destination. With a dead Itachi on their hands.

And then, the other problem with that is that Itachi's whereabouts were unknown. Even though Sasuke spent about five or six years of life trying to find that man.

It saddened Naruto a little bit whenever he thought about it. _Sasuke's wasting his life away._

He ignored the part in his mind that he was wasting his life away, trying to get Sasuke back. It wasn't as if Naruto would ever leave Konoha like Sasuke did and pursue the man. It was too much to do. Too much to lose.

But now, he had the opportunity to bring Sasuke back without going to extreme measures. Which brings us back to his second plan.

Since he and/or Sasuke couldn't kill Itachi, then he'd have to convince Sasuke that revenge isn't worth his time.

Unfortunately, Naruto had to pick that plan. It was easier than the first but that still didn't mean that the task was easy at all.

So that was why Naruto was currently banging his head repeatedly on the wall in the locker room as he tried to think of something.

_I'll just- wait no. That won't work. Then, Sasuke will- never mind. That's won't work either. Maybe I should- This is too damn hard! _The banging continued on for a while but it got slower and slower until it eventually stopped. Naruto sat on the bench and leaned his head back before letting out a defeated sigh. _Aww. Screw it._

This time, he thought of another route to go. Sasuke came back to the bar because Naruto or rather Sobame-chan acted like an old friend of Sasuke's. And Naruto had a pretty good idea who he was talking about._ So I just act like myself?_

Naruto clenched his hands. He felt like he should do at least some complicated planning. This after all was a high-class mission to bring Sasuke back. It felt weird Naruto was just going to _wing_it and hope it would work with Sasuke.

But then Naruto just had to be himself. So how should Naruto plan to be Naruto?

Why does this have to be so hard? _Now_ the problem is causing Naruto to start arguing with himself.

_Okay, so I'll just-_

"Sobame-chan! Hurry up!" Akane called.

With a sigh, Naruto sent one more distressed look into the mirror and walked out of the room. _What am I going to do?_

* * *

Naruto rushed through the restaurant and placed down trays while giving the customers cheerful smiles when he actually wanted to make angry faces at them. Secretly blaming them for his bad day. 

He came to the last table and placed down the small tray. "Here's your order."

Sasuke nodded and reached over for it. Naruto looked back over the crowd before sighing.

Sasuke looked up and Naruto thought he could see a small amount of surprise when he slipped into the booth across from Sasuke. But then again, it was gone too quickly to be digested as an emotion.

Miyu looked at him strangely before Naruto answered her unspoken question.

"I'm taking a break." She nodded before walking away.

The waitresses usually got a fifteen-minute break. Although, they couldn't have a break together so that ruined the idea of any social discussions.

"Mmmmm." Naruto moaned as he lied his aching head onto his folded arms.

Sasuke's face held no expression as he sipped his tea.

"Aren't you gonna ask me what's wrong?" Naruto questioned. Even though yesterday, he realized that Sasuke would start talking. He never really saw the lengths of his vocabulary.

"What?" Sasuke asked, although it didn't seem liked he cared at all.

"What as in 'what did you say' or what as in 'what's wrong'?"

"Second." Naruto lifted an eyebrow as he noticed a pattern.

"Are you going to answer all my questions with one word?"

"Hn." Naruto glared at Sasuke as he sipped his tea before he gave up and started explaining his day.

He wasn't even in a good mood when the day started.

Naruto had to skip breakfast when his alarm clock failed to wake him up which left him with almost no time at all to get ready.

And then for some reason, the club was packed with twice as much customers than usual. And the club's normal attendance was a lot by itself. So you can imagine the massive group of people that stood waiting for service.

And when people were waiting, Naruto had to move faster which ended up with him stubbing his pinky toe on a chair leg.

Then, it caused Naruto to react by shrieking and jumping on one foot as if that action would spare him from the pulsing pain.

Some girls laughed at him but most guys around him took advantage of the situation. Naruto shuddered as he remembered the big man that tried to 'comfort' him in his moment of pain.

He never noticed how many men acted like idiots around girls.

To make things worse, a waitress was fired the day before. So there were less people to help Naruto serve the hungry people.

Naruto also had to sprint all the way through thick crowds to serve food and then run back to just do it again. It was wearing away at his muscles. So he was tired.

Naruto allowed his eyes to close for a while to just enjoy the small bliss of the action.

"And half of the day isn't even over yet! Don't you feel sorry for me?" Naruto glanced up at Sasuke and hoped that he would speak. The conversation was starting to feel one-sided. "You know, it'd be nice if you'd actually spoke more than one word. I'm pretty sure your voice is in good condition."

"Why are you here?" Naruto looked up with a triumphant expression before shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm on break and I feel like sitting here."

"Why?"

"Because you're the only guy here who won't hit on me." Naruto stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hn." It was then that Naruto remembered what he had been wondering about the day before.

"Tell me about your friend. The one I remind you of." _Let's see what he says._

Unfortunately, the question caused Sasuke to harden his stare and tighten his hold around the cup. In other words, he clammed up. _Am I such a bad topic to talk about?_

Naruto was about to say something when one of the waitresses told him that his break was over.

He groaned at the prospect of going back to work and offered Sasuke a weak smile.

"Sorry if I offended you but it was still nice talking to you." _It's nice talking to an old friend. Even if you don't want to talk about me._

Naruto stood up and left, unaware that Sasuke's eyes followed him as he left.

* * *

After that day, Naruto spent his breaks with Sasuke. Although, Naruto mostly supplied the conversation. 

But he was satisfied with Sasuke's one-worded answers or occasional sentence.

It was a few days later after his first break with Sasuke that something changed.

Naruto had walked to Sasuke's table intending to take a nap. He wouldn't do it this often but today, he just felt extremely tired.

He scooted all the way to the wall and lied his in his arms. He did some more odd movements until he found a comfortable position.

"So you're not going to whine about your day?" Naruto's eyes jumped open.

Usually, Naruto was the one who initiated the conversations. Never had Sasuke spoken first.

"Umm..." Naruto said when he couldn't think. "Well, there's nothing really bad happening."

"Really?"

Naruto gave a careless shrug, feeling a little less tired than before.

"I guess so. Since I've sat here, it's like people stopped bothering me. Men stopped hitting on me." He paused for a moment. "Well,_most_ men stopped hitting on me. My friends not bothering me about getting a guy but I don't really know why. Oh! And a replacement waitress is coming tomorrow. So it won't be so crazy around here anymore."

"Good for you."

"Yup." The club was one of the subjects Naruto would usually rant about but now there was nothing interesting happening.

There was a moment of silence before Naruto found a subject to talk about.

"Wanna here a funny story?" Sasuke stayed silent but Naruto made it out as a 'yes'. "It was a long time ago but it's really funny. My friends and I were bored so we decided to play a prank on someone but we didn't know who. Until the person came and gave us the answer. Then, we..."

The conversations he had with Sasuke suddenly didn't feel so one-sided anymore.

* * *

The bar was packed with customers so Naruto couldn't get to Sasuke on his usual time. He _was_ going to spend his break with Sasuke but he had to do some things first. 

It was about a couple of days before when Sasuke finally decided to start speaking to Naruto with more than one word. Naruto still supplied most of the conversation.

It was expected though. Sasuke's a person who'd rather listen. Naruto couldn't imagine him as a consistent chatter.

Their conversations were usually stories about what had happened to Naruto in the Leaf Village. He wanted to have Sasuke updated about the events in Konoha but he didn't want Sasuke to know it was about Konoha.

So Naruto had to watch his mouth so he wouldn't let a name slip.

Naruto hurried his movements so he could go have his daily conversations with Sasuke.

The plan was slowly progressing. He was getting Sasuke to open up a little bit more. Thoughts of having Sasuke back at the village gave him a triumphant smile as he handed out the last of the trays.

He went back to the counter and grabbed the final tray. The table was located around Sasuke's spot. _At least that saves me a long walk._

He rushed a little to the table. Naruto wanted to start his break as soon as possible or they might call him back to do more work.

Along the way, Naruto saw Sasuke and flashed a small smile as he quickened his pace.

He placed the tray onto the table and rushed his next words. "Here's your order!"

The men smile flirtatiously which caused a Naruto to shudder. Before he could leave, one of them grabbed his hand.

"A pretty lady like you should have a pretty name." _Oh! Great. Another flirt._

"Umm... It's Sobame-chan, sir." Naruto gave an uncomfortable smile and gently tugged his hand.

Nope! The guy was holding on pretty tight.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." He said in a lowered pitch before lowering his head towards Naruto's hand.

He yanked his hand out of the man's grip before his skin was touched by another pair of lips. "I-I have to go, sir."

Naruto walked, almost ran, away. He definitely needed a break right now.

Not too far away, the new replacement waitress stood taking an order.

"Hey!" He yelled, trying to get her attention. Naruto wanted her to tell Kana that he was having a break.

His pace quickened as he saw that she was about to leave. "Hey!"

Naruto walked faster which helped him _not_ notice the sign that stated that the floor was wet. Big mistake.

His foot slipped and his body bent backwards. His hands flapped around uselessly as he tried to regain his balance.

Naruto's eyes shut instinctively as his body surrendered to gravity and fell.

His heart pounded as his body and the floor were about to smash together.

"Open your eyes." _Huh?_

Naruto was confused as he opened his eyes.

"Umm..." That was all he could say at the moment. He looked up and saw Sasuke._ Is he smiling?_

Naruto jumped out of Sasuke's arms when he had pieced everything together.

Naruto was running and tripped on the wet floor. Sasuke, being the show off that he is, went and heroically saved him from falling flat on his back.

And it turns out that Sasuke was not smiling. It was just an amused smirk. But Naruto was just happy that he got Sasuke's mouth to have some kind of movement. Instead of his overused frown.

Now, everyone was staring at him.

"Uhh... I'm okay now. Go back to eating." He gave a nervous laugh as everyone turned away. The waitress he had tried to get earlier came over.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Naruto scratched his head as he tried to remember her name. He smacked himself when he remembered that she was wearing a name tag. "Can you tell Kana I'm going on a break now, Mina-chan?"

"Okay." She said as she turned around and left.

Naruto turned around and _carefully _walked to Sasuke's table.

"Thanks for saving my butt back there." He said when he sat down.

"Hn." Naruto took that as a 'No problem' in Sasuke version. "Watch where you're going next time."

Naruto nodded at Sasuke's command. He sounded serious but Naruto thought he could almost detect a tone of amusement. Almost.

"I will. You know, this kinda reminds me of something that happened to my friends. Wanna hear?"

Sasuke leaned on one hand. The position that Naruto now learned as the listening stance. So that meant a yes.

"Well, it was when we were..." Naruto swore that some part in his story got Sasuke to give another of his rare smirks.

The action caused Naruto to give a smile that practically radiated happiness.

Things were moving on slowly but it was still progressing.

* * *

A/N: Sorry if this chapter wasn't that good. I think I might have a mini case of writer's block. But it's nothing that bad. 


	5. You and Me

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

"Life is getting boring." Naruto stretched his arms out and opened his mouth to let out a big old yawn to emphasize his point.

"Really?"

"Yes! I mean, I come here. Work. Then, I talk to you. And I do it every single day! It's too _boring_. No body likes routines. I mean, who likes to do the same thing over and over and over and over-"

"Hn." Sasuke interrupted. Naruto smiled sheepishly when he realized he had started rambling.

"Sorry about that but I do have a point. Let's do something this... tomorrow! I can invite Miyu-chan, Akane-chan, and Mina-chan. They'd love to do something this weekend, too! What do you say?" Sasuke leaned his head into one of his hands and sent back a casual bored look which Naruto knew as 'whatever'. It was scary how fast Naruto was understanding Sasuke's movements and body language, but he didn't often dwell on the subject. So it didn't bother him that much. "Okay, good! What do you think we should do? I'm gonna ask the other girls later but I wanna hear what you have to say."

"I won't do anything stupid." He stated boredly. As if it were _that_ obvious. Which it kind of was.

"Well, that's very specific." Naruto's sarcastic comment caused another one of Sasuke's smirks to come out. The smirk came out more than occasionally but it still wasn't a normal thing for him to smirk. "Fine! It's decided then. We'll have an adventure tomorrow. Good thing I have the day off tomorrow. Although, I'm not sure about the other three."

Naruto paused as another thought came to him.

"Hey, if we go all together, are you gonna talk to them?" Sasuke intertwined both his hands and turned his head to the side with an annoyed expression. _I guess that means 'no'._"Why not?"

The question was answered by another thick silence.

"Whatever. I'm gonna talk to them later so... yeah." Naruto leaned back and stretched his fingers. "Do _you_ have any funny stories you want to tell me? I've been the storyteller far a _really_ long time, you know?"

Sasuke's eyes moved over to send him a quick glance before going back to their original position in the annoyed expression which caused Naruto to sigh.

"I'm kinda running out of stories. Well, not really. But just let me think of something." Naruto put leaned into his hand as his face contorted into a thinking expression. "Got one! So this was on my birthday. They decided they wanted to..."

And the day continued with their usual conversations.

* * *

Naruto checked in with Kana before heading to the dressing room to change. He was late for the usual conference with the girls. 

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Miyu, Akane, and Mina (the latest member to their group) waiting for him.

"You're late," Mina stated.

"The restaurant is getting really busy lately." Naruto argued as he started to change.

"What did you want to tell us earlier?" Akane asked. Naruto grinned. He forgot he had told them that he needed to tell them something later.

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask you guys if you were free tomorrow. I wanna have an adventure out in town. " Akane was the only one who refused. So the other two girls were free.

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

Naruto gave a careless shrug. "I don't really know."

"How can you not do any planning for the trip?" Miyu lectured.

"Sasuke said it was fine as long as he didn't have to do something stupid!"

"Oh! You finally have a name for the beautiful stranger!" Miyu gushed while Mina looked confused before they explained that 'beautiful stranger' was their nickname for Sasuke.

"Yeah. But I don't think you should call him by his name, though. I don't think he'd like it." True. Sasuke wouldn't be too happy if the other girls suddenly walked past him and shouted 'Hi, Sasuke!' to him. Naruto could imagine the expression on his face if that happened.

"Aww! A reserved pet name! How cute!" Akane chatted excitedly.

"Yeah, whatever. Seriously though, help me plan something for tomorrow." Naruto needed some suggestions. He had to focus this time.

"How about going out to eat tomorrow at a restaurant or something?" Miyu suggested before Naruto shook his head.

"I wanna do something new. Eating out is not new."

"Why don't you take him to the circus?" Naruto thought about it before giving up on the idea.

"I can't exactly picture him in a circus. It doesn't seem right." A smile came onto Naruto's face though. It was a funny thought. Sasuke at the circus.

"A picnic?" Mina stated casually. Naruto jumped up in excitement as the idea sounded perfect to him.

"That's a great idea!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically. "But what should we bring for it?"

"I'll make the food." One of them volunteered.

"I'll bring the equipment." The other one said.

"And I'll bring the... Sasuke. Umm... Okay! So now we know what to do?"

"Yup!" The group stayed for a while longer as Naruto worked out the little faults in the plan.

As soon as Naruto left, the small group turned to each other.

"You know why she's doing this right?" Miyu asked calmly.

"Isn't this a celebration for what yesterday was?" Akane answered with another question.

"I'm confused." The two other girls explained it to the new girl, and they all soon began to giggle at their little plot.

* * *

"My name is Mina-chan!" 

"Mine is Miyu!"

Naruto groaned. He should've expected this to happen. Of course, they would try to talk to Sasuke, but Naruto didn't know how Sasuke would react._Maybe he'll just ignore them._

The two girls waited for an answer but it never came. _Ha. I was right._

Miyu was the first one to react.

"Maybe you didn't hear us but my name is Miyu." She enunciated each word slowly to Sasuke but he still ignored them.

"Hey! We're talking to you!" Mina said, offended by his lack of manners. She reached over to poke him but he turned around before she could touch him.

He gave her one of his 'Sasuke' glares which caused her hand to slowly retreat.

Sasuke's attitude made the atmosphere turn awkward. They stopped talking and everyone walked quietly.

The plan was that they would walk all the way to the fields that surrounded the town and find a private area to relax in.

Mina held all the food in a basket while the Miyu held the equipment. Naruto held the other things that were too heavy for them.

Sasuke walked with nothing in his hands. Mostly because Naruto wouldn't let him. Naruto wanted Sasuke to relax but that was going to be a little tough considering the way he was acting now. Actually, getting him to relax might be the toughest thing he was going to do on the trip.

"I see a spot over there!" Naruto shouted as he ran headfirst to the spot he had previously pointed at.

He had chosen a shady spot under a cherry blossom tree. The girls ran and tried to catch up with the hyper Naruto but failed.

The group laid down the blanket and stretched their sore muscles caused by the long walk.

"Hey, Sobame-chan! Can we talk to you for a minute?" Naruto looked up at them curiously before agreeing.

"Sure!" They walked until Sasuke was out of hearing range. "What's up?"

"That guy is a jerk!" Mina blurted out before Miyu elbowed her in the stomach. "Ow."

Miyu sent another glare until Mina understood some kind of unspoken message. "Oh."

It was quiet for a moment before Miyu spoke up.

"Sobame-chan. We have to leave."

"What? Why?" He had planned for all of them to have fun.

"Well, I just got a call from Kana. She really needs our help back at the restaurant." She said sadly.

"Oh." Naruto felt a little disappoint well up inside him. "So you're leaving right now?"

"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry. Bye." She gave a small wave before turning around.

"Bye." Naruto called after all.

"Aww, cheer up!" Mina put an arm around Naruto and smiled. "I'd thought you'd be happy to be alone with that guy."

Naruto raised one of his eyebrows and gave a confused expression.

"Why?"

"Wasn't yesterday your anniversary or something?"

"What?" Naruto asked. He was completely lost. _Anniversary?_

"You should know. The girls told me yesterday. I think it was two days ago? A Thursday? Well, they just told me it had been exactly one month since the first night that guy..." She stuck her thumb out at Sasuke before continuing. "... came to the bar. They said that you guys were celebrating."

"Umm..." Naruto was at a lost for words when he realized something else. "Wait! Is that why you guys are leaving?"

"Uhh..." That was the last thing he heard before the two ran away.

"Hey! You come back! Damn it!" Naruto finally stopped yelling when the two were little specks in the distance. "Damn."

He walked back to Sasuke who was being entertained by the pissed off Naruto.

"I can't believe they did that! They just ran away and..." Naruto's ranting stopped before he offered an explanation to Sasuke. "My friends just ditched us."

Naruto plopped himself down beside Sasuke and sent another glare toward the direction the two took off.

"Good." Sasuke whispered lowly.

"What did you say?" Naruto twisted his head to look at Sasuke.

He thought he heard Sasuke speak after being quiet for the whole trip.

The two stared at each other before Naruto just brushed it off. Maybe it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

He went over to the basket and pulled out the utensils while Sasuke watched. Naruto sighed before turning back to the man beside him.

"I guess that leaves just you and me."

* * *

A/N: Grr. I'm not that happy with this chapter. Please review. I love your thoughts. 


	6. Fake and Real

A/N: Meh. I made a small mistake in the last chapter but I fixed it. So I'd like to thank **BitterSweet27**for pointing that out.

**BitterSweet27**: I'm sorry but they don't know... yet.

**x-EliteAssassin-x**: You could say that but actually, he was just happy that the other waitresses were gone because they annoyed him. _Maybe_ he was a little possessive. Who knows? I'll let you decide.

And thank you to the others who reviewed!

This adorable chapter is dedicated to my little brother. He's turning eleven and since I have no money, I'm giving him this chapter instead of a real present. Sorry! But I hope he's happy because I gave him a really good chapter.

Enough of this talk. Story time!

**Disclaimer: I do now own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

"This looks great!" Naruto smiled hungrily as he eyed the food. "Which one do you like?"

Sasuke glanced at all the food on the blanket before turning his head in a dismissive way.

"I don't like sweets." Naruto looked at the food before sorting them out. He put the all the sweet things onto his plate and left the other food on the plate in the middle. His hand waved toward the food in a presenting manner.

"Okay. There! No sweets. Which one do you wanna eat?" Sasuke's eyes scanned over the remaining food before turning his head away.

"None."

Naruto gave Sasuke a confused look before picking up one of the salmon-flavored rice balls.

"Come on. This one is delicious! Eat it!" Naruto put his cupped hands that were holding the rice ball in front of Sasuke's face. "Bad things happen to you if you don't eat so you better eat this." Naruto commanded.

"I told you I didn't want to." Sasuke ignored the sour look on Naruto's face when he answered.

"You barely eat anything! At the club, I _never_saw you eat anything. You drink tea a lot but that isn't food. So I command you to eat this, damn it!" Naruto shoved the rice ball straight into Sasuke's mouth.

Sasuke smacked his hand away and sent a glare toward Naruto.

"Hey! Don't blame me! You were the one who was making it all complicated by not wanting to eat." Naruto mumbled as Sasuke wiped some of the sticky rice off his face. The rice ball remained intact so Naruto tried to use it again. "Just one bite. Okay?"

Sasuke sent him a glare before speaking.

"How do I know you haven't poisoned them? Your friends don't seem to like me. What if they poisoned it?" He said accusingly. Maybe, if Naruto had paid attention, he would have heard the amusement in Sasuke's voice.

"That's a stupid question." Naruto retorted.

"Why are you so determined to make me eat the food then?"

The question made Naruto want to rip his hair out in frustration. Why does Sasuke have to be so aggravating?

"Look! It's not poisoned, okay? I just want you to eat it 'cuz this is a picnic! A picnic involves people eating!" Naruto let loose a growl when Sasuke sent him his 'I don't believe you' look. "The food isn't poisoned. I'll eat one for you!"

Naruto grabbed one of the other rice balls and bit into it. If Naruto wasn't so busy glaring at Sasuke as he ate, he probably would've stuffed his face with the rest of the delicious rice ball. He placed the rice ball onto his plate before giving a victorious look to Sasuke.

"See? It wasn't poisoned. Now you eat yours!" Naruto placed the rice ball in front of Sasuke's face.

"How do I know you didn't poison _my_ food?" Sasuke smirked at Naruto and waited for an answer.

"What the hell is wrong with you all of a sudden? Just eat the damn food and get it over with. It _isn't_ poisoned!" Sasuke sent Naruto another look which caused Naruto to rise to the unspoken challenge. "Here! I'll take a bit out of your rice ball."

Naruto dramatically raised the rice ball to his mouth and chomped down. He 'mmmm'ed his approval while looking at Sasuke as if to say 'Ha! Ha! You're missing out on the greatest food ever!'.

After Naruto swallowed the food in his mouth, he sent a triumphant smirk toward Sasuke.

"See? I'm not dead! So now you have to eat it!" Sasuke looked at the food that Naruto was placing in front of his face.

"Your saliva's on it. I don't want to eat _that_." Sasuke crossed his arms and turned his head away. "Take that out of my face."

"What... you... Huh?" That was all Naruto could manage to say as he tried to assess the situation. "Wait!"

Sasuke looked boredly at Naruto who in return narrowed his eyes and tried to give him an evil glare.

"What?" Sasuke said, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

Naruto jumped up and pointed at Sasuke. "You... you planned for that to happen!"

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow up and looked at Naruto. "What do you mean?"

"You_knew_ I was going to take a bite out of the rice ball so then _you_ wouldn't have to eat it! You _planned_ for that to happen!" Sasuke sent an amused smirk toward Naruto which seemed to make aggravate Naruto even more.

"I already told you that I didn't want to eat." He turned his face to the side. His face turned stoic again but for some reason, there was a hidden smugness in his expression.

"Why you..." Naruto, controlled by his anger, grabbed the nearest thing next to him (which just happened to another rice ball) and flung it at Sasuke.

Sasuke's head was turned so he didn't have anytime to react before it hit the side of his face.

Naruto watched with his jaw dropped as the rice ball slid down Sasuke's face and plopped onto the floor. A few of the sticky rice stuck to Sasuke's face and hair.

It seemed to happen as if it were slow motion. Sasuke turned his head slowly towards Naruto and sent him one of his famous 'Sasuke' scowls. The tension was so thick in the air that Naruto forgot that he was supposed to be breathing as he sat there speechless about what he had down.

There was a heated stare that lasted a second between Sasuke and Naruto, but it was ruined when Naruto... burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

His lungs gasped in air before it was forced out as his body shook by the force of Naruto's laughs. Sasuke sat still as he watched Naruto's amusement with a scowl on his face.

"Did you... see... the look... on your... face?" Naruto said as he breathed for air between the gaps in the words. "It was hilarious!"

Eventually, Naruto's laughs died down, and Sasuke's glare could start affecting him.

"Sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen." Naruto sat up and wiped away an imaginary tear. "But come on! If you just ate the damn food, it would be in your stomach instead of your hair."

Sasuke sent another glare toward Naruto. Of course, Naruto didn't mind and glared at him back.

"You could at least say it's okay. I apologized. It's the polite thing to do." Naruto lectured.

Naruto continued to stare at Sasuke with an amused expression on his face. The glaring continued for a few more minutes until Naruto thought up a plan. "You know, I won't hesitate to throw food at you again if you don't talk."

Naruto picked up some rice and held it behind his back.

He was waiting for an answer. Too bad it never came.

"I'm giving you five more seconds to talk or I'm gonna throw it at you and start laughing my ass off again. Five... four... three...," Naruto whipped the rice at Sasuke before he finished counting. He wanted to catch Sasuke off guard. A countdown would be too obvious, of course.

This time, though, Sasuke dodged the attack.

"What the?" Sasuke looked boredly down at Naruto which caused another pack of sticky rice to be thrown at his head but Sasuke managed to dodge it again. "That's not fair!" Naruto accused.

He picked up another rice ball and threw at Sasuke who just dodged it again. Naruto didn't want to resort to his usual ninja tactics so he had to throw the food as if he were some amateur.

"Hold still!" Naruto threw another one which missed. Sasuke made an unexpected move. He ran straight toward Naruto.

The rice ball fell from Naruto's hands, and his personal space was provoked when Sasuke's face stood only an inch away from his.

Naruto's body was paralyzed as Sasuke's eyes seemed to be searching for something. His eyes traveled around Naruto's face before landing onto his eyes. They stared at each other until Sasuke broke the tension.

"Hn." A smirk appeared on Sasuke's face, and one of his hand gripped Naruto's shoulder as his other hand moved towards Naruto's face.

Naruto closed his eyes by instinct before opening them when Sasuke did nothing. He looked up at Sasuke before the corner of his eye caught Sasuke's hand.

The hand crept closer to Naruto before his fingers bent into an 'O' shape. Before Naruto could stop if from happening, Sasuke flicked his nose.

"What the?" Naruto rubbed his nose before jumping up. "What'd you do that for?"

Sasuke just sent him another smirk causing another rice ball to be thrown at him.

"Why you little..." Sasuke backed up every time Naruto threw a rice ball at him. Soon, Naruto had to run after Sasuke which started the chase.

Sasuke watched Naruto running after him with a smirk on his face.

"Are you even trying to catch me?" Sasuke taunted while Naruto threw another piece of food at him.

"Are you even trying not to be the ass that you are?"

Sasuke gave a deep, low chuckle at Naruto's comment, the action causing Naruto to stare at Sasuke. _What the hell? What is up with him today? He's not... himself..._

Sasuke's fake laugh somehow reminded Naruto of Sai. The friend always had fake smiles and fake laughs, and Naruto was always able to tell when Sai was faking or not. Somehow, after that, it gave Naruto the ability to sort out real emotions and fake emotions in people. Sasuke was no different. He was giving a fake laugh. _But... why?_

Naruto, deep in thought, didn't notice that Sasuke had stop running which meant he rammed right into Sasuke.

"Idiot!" That was the last thing Sasuke said before he and Naruto rolled down the steep hill.

Sasuke landed on the floor somehow gracefully as Naruto landed on top of him.

"Ow." Naruto moaned as he laid his head on the ground but wait... this isn't the ground! Naruto looked down and saw Sasuke.

His transformation's hair acted as a small curtain around them as they looked at each other before Naruto jumped off him. "Eww! Get off of me!"

Naruto rubbed his arm and saw there were only a few scrapes on his arm. Then, he proceeded to glare at Sasuke even though it wasn't really his fault. But it's so much easier when he pretends it was Sasuke's fault.

"See! I told you bad things happen to you when you don't eat!" Naruto watched as Sasuke stood up and dusted himself off.

"Didn't I tell you before?" He looked up and gave Naruto another scowl. "Watch where you're going."

Naruto, reminded of the bar scene, huffed and turned around. "Well, I was distracted."

"What?! You could've killed both of us because you were 'distracted'." Naruto wrinkled his nose as he heard the unconcealed sarcasm in Sasuke's voice.

"I said I'm sorry. Okay?" Sasuke looked like he wanted to say more but kept his mouth shut.

"Whatever." He said before he walked up to Naruto.

Naruto didn't know why but Sasuke started to run his fingers through the strands of fake hair on Naruto's head with a soft tenderness. It was different from the laugh from before though.

The tenderness... the soft touch... it was real.

It made Naruto forget about the fake laughter coming from Sasuke before.

"What are you-" Naruto's question was answered as Sasuke flicked some grass that had been in his hair onto the ground.

"Let's go back now." Sasuke said as Naruto nodded in agreement, and they walked silently up the hill.

Naruto sat down on the blanket and without a word, dropped some food onto the plate in front of Sasuke.

"Eat." He said, and this time, Sasuke listened.

Naruto had to admit it. He had fun today, and he was reluctant to leave even though it was getting dark.

But eventually, the duo had to split apart.

Naruto went home and immediately went to bed. He was too exhausted to make himself any ramen today. And his head would be too deep in his thoughts to even taste the scrumptious noodles.

_It... it was a nice day._ Naruto thought before he went to sleep.

* * *

Red eyes glowed in the darkness as he made his way through the damp cave. He ran until he was at the end of the cave and kneeled down to where the scroll was placed. 

He picked it up and unrolled it to find it was blank. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Ah, I see you've finally came." The voice, it seemed, came from everywhere. So the location of the man couldn't be found. It was too dark in the cave for Sasuke's eyes to work properly. "It's been a while."

"I was busy," Sasuke shouted into the darkness. "You didn't hold up your side of the bargain."

"Information on your brother is very hard to gather. You should be grateful, Uchiha." The man said in the same monotone voice. "You bring news. Tell me now."

"You know what I'm going to do. You should know what I'm going to say next." The sarcasm in Sasuke's voice was unappreciated by the dark figure.

"Should I remind you again that I do not like to waste my time." Sasuke sighed before he told the figure of his recent discovery. "I see. How can you be so sure?"

"I placed a genjutsu on her today. When she was unsuspecting, I used my sharingan to search the depth of her power." Sasuke explained.

"And?"

"It is suppressed but it's not hidden that well. I can't tell you if how much power she possesses but it may rival the nine-tailed demon." Silence filled the dark cave as the figure absorbed the news.

"I see. So why have you not brought her to me yet?"

"I don't know if she knows of her capabilities. If she does use her power on me, I might not fare very well. I will gain her trust before taking her without making a scene." The young Uchiha stated obviously.

"Are you sure you are capable of such a task?" Sasuke's face showed no emotions but it was clear he was ticked.

"Don't question me. I know what I am doing. She doesn't suspect a thing." Another silence filled the cave. "What?"

"Your acting is not that good, Uchiha. Are you sure your emotions are not_ natural_?" This time, a scowl showed up on Sasuke's face.

"You do not know my abilities. It won't be long before I bring her to you."

"Do not get attached, Uchiha." The voice warned while Sasuke scoffed at the statement. _That will never happen._

"Whatever. But I suspect you to hold up your side of the deal."

"Yes. In return for the power..." The figure paused before continuing the grim statement. "... your brother will die a gruesome death."

"And?" Sasuke waited for the voice to continue.

"And your friend will be protected. But only if the girl is as strong as you say. Now leave. I will call you when I need you." Sasuke nodded.

"As you wish." Sasuke said obediently although it left a bitter taste in his mouth to follow another's orders before vanishing.

Another dark figure appeared before the first one.

"To think, after all that boy was put through, he still has a heart." The figure smirked before continuing. "Why use him? He is clearly becoming attached to the little subject."

"It is expected." The other figure said calmly. "I planned it to happen."

"And he doesn't even know the truth about the 'girl'." The figure sneered at the direction Sasuke had left. "A shinobi must see through all kinds of deception."

"You couldn't have told the difference either when you saw the girl. Don't mock him if you have done the same." The other figure stated calmly causing the other figure to quickly change the subject.

"Why use him? He clearly won't help us achieve the power we want." The other figure remained stoic to the question. "How are you so sure?"

"I underestimated the forces last time. It won't happen again. And as for little Uchiha... He is a pawn. He will be discarded when he is not needed anymore. He will fulfill a role in my plan." The calm figure looked at the other man. "And you will play yours."

The last words were spoken between the two, and the cave was soon empty once again.

* * *

A/N: And the plot thickens. Review. 


	7. Changing

A/N: Oh gosh! I'm really sorry this update took so long. Meh! Well, I made a small promise in my mind (and I do hope I keep it) that I wouldn't keep readers waiting for more than a week. So... yeah. Well, go hurry up and read the anticipated chapter.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

"Achoo!" Naruto placed a finger under his nose which blocked each of his nostrils from smelling the foul scents in the air. It effectively stopped the irritation in his nose that was bound to have turned into another sneeze. 

"You okay, Sobame-chan?" Mina asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Naruto had almost managed to wave her off before another sneeze rocked his body. He reached his hand out, silently asking a question. The other waitress understood and handed him a tissue.

"I think you're sick." She said as soon as Naruto grabbed the tissue.

"It just kinda stinks in here." He threw away the small piece of used cloth before giving her a cheerful smile. "I'm fine. Let's go do some actual work before we get in trouble."

"Okay." She said uncertainly before she left.

Naruto didn't consider himself sick. Maybe a little... fatigued but not anything too bad. He stifled another yawn and rubbed his eye, hoping to throw away the entity that was zapping away his energy.

Today was one of those 'Why do I even bother?' days. Naruto rarely got them considering that he was always enthusiastic about having a brand new day filled with unknowns waiting for him. So that meant today was a rare day then.

As soon as the sun came up, causing a glare to erupt from Naruto, he knew that all he think about for the whole day was jumping back into bed and blissfully sleeping the day away. His tired limbs seemed to weigh him down as he basically walked the day as a zombie with a fake expression of giddiness on his face.

"May I take your order, sir?" Naruto said in a monotone voice. He nodded as he wrote down the entrees and walked back to the counter before sighing. This was too boring.

He idly thought about what would happen if he happened to quit this job. Then again, Sasuke was here so it just so happened that Naruto didn't have a say in the matter of keeping this job. But it was so tempting to imagine himself laying in his bed doing absolutely nothing at all.

"Achoo!" Naruto sneezed again. He breathed in deeply to try to get some clean air but that just caused him to go into another round of coughing.

"Are you sure you're not sick?" Mina asked again.

"I'm fine. There's just a lot of smokers here today." It was true. The air was contaminated with the thick fumes of the cancer stick which was probably another addition to Naruto's list of why today was a horrible day. "It'll just go away."

"It_was_ a little chilly out when you went on the picnic. Maybe you're sick." Naruto quickly shook his head at her suggestion.

"I said I'm fine. Don't worry. It'll... just go away."

"Yeah._Sure_. But if you puke your guts out on the floor, I'm not cleaning it up." He gave a small 'ha' at her comment before looking at the clock. "If you're looking for that guy, he's over there."

Naruto looked where she was pointing at and sure enough, Sasuke was there, silently waiting for him.

"Thanks. I'm gonna take break now." He saw her give him a small nod before heading toward Sasuke. He sat down across from him and lied his head down before giving a very tired 'hello'.

"What's wrong with you?" Sasuke asked boredly.

Naruto raised his head but eventually got tired of lifting the weight. So he put his elbow on the table and laid his head onto his hand before locking gazes with Sasuke.

"Umm... I don't know. Maybe I just don't feel like talking." Naruto glared at Sasuke's 'Yeah, right.' expression.

"That's impossible." Sasuke replied in a bored tone.

"Just shut up!"

"Hn."

"I told you not to say anything!" Naruto snapped before he could stop himself. He watched to see if Sasuke would get angry but instead, saw a sneer sent in his direction.

"I_didn't_ say anything." Naruto could've just stopped there. He could've just ignored Sasuke's taunt and have a very nice nap but no. Sasuke sent him a smirk, and it wasn't no ordinary smirk! Oh no! It's was a_challenging_smirk. And Naruto never backed down a challenge.

"You did just now!" Naruto childishly retorted to the smirking Uchiha.

"So you think you can take away my privilege to speak?"

"Hell yeah!" Naruto brought his fist down onto the table to show how serious he was. "So I'm telling you to shut up so shut up."

Sasuke put his arm on the table before leaning forward and giving Naruto another of his amused smirk.

"And if I don't?" Naruto grinded his teeth before leaning forward also. Somewhere in his mind, he remembered that there was a situation similar to the one he was in. It was when Sasuke and Naruto had gotten into another fight. Naruto had been trying to impress Sakura but somehow, Sasuke acted like a jerk and gotten her affections. He stepped in front of Sasuke and glared at him which caused them to land into another glaring contest. Before the kid behind him bumped into him and he... Why did he have to remember that kind of memory this moment?

_Ha._Naruto smirked inwardly as he saw the their motions was mimicking the memory. _Some things never change._

"Well, then. I'd have to beat the living pulp out of you and maybe torture you a little bit until you shut up."

"You're surprisingly very violent for a little girl." He said, leaning in a little more.

"Little? I remember lifting you up when we first met!" Naruto retorted, copying Sasuke's previous movement.

"I can promise you that it will not happen again." Sasuke remarked coolly before leaning in, gently bumping their noses. Of course, the action was looked upon by two different perspectives. One person was thinking how easily woman were influenced while the other was faintly have a deja vu moment. The situation was oddly resembling his old memory.

"Well, I can promise you that I will break your promise." Naruto replied, menacingly.

"Big words for a _little_girl." Sasuke smirked as his words got the desired effect.

"Give it up with the little thing! Damn it!" Naruto smashed their foreheads together in retaliation. Although, none of them felt any pain. "Just wait until I get my hands on you. You're gonna regret those words!"

"Hn." Sasuke smirked before he stared into Naruto's blazing, blue eyes and leaned forward. The girl must obviously be aware of the position she was in, and she wasn't backing away. So this was a clear sign to take advantage of.

Naruto looked up and was surprised by the change of attitude in Sasuke. He was about to ask him what the hell Sasuke was doing when Sasuke caught his eye. _Damn him._

Why did Sasuke have the ability to put someone in a trance with a mere look? Naruto wanted to look away, but he couldn't.

"Sobame-chan!" Akane called. Naruto turned his head toward her before giving her a friendly wave. She smiled back at him before leaving.

_Isn't she mad that I interrupted her kiss?_ Akane looked back at her bubbly friend before giving a tired sigh. That girl probably didn't know the predicament she was in._Sobame-chan is so oblivious. _She looked at the table again but quickly turned away when the man gave her a glare.

"What are you looking at?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing." Sasuke said as he turned back to Naruto.

"I wonder what she wanted. Well, anyways, I'm gonna regret your words." Sasuke lost his teasing tone and gave a very monotone answer.

"Like what?"

"Hmm. I guess I could-" Naruto felt a small prick some place near his throat before he started coughing. _Damn the smoke._

"So you're going to get me sick?" Sasuke said in the same bored voice but still managed to look concerned when he reached over and placed his hand on Naruto's forehead. Naruto swatted the hand away before giving him an annoyed expression.

"What is with everyone today? I'm not sick!" Sasuke sent another of his 'I don't believe you' looks which caused Naruto to give an aggravated sigh. "It's just... There's a lot of smokers here today. The smell is irritating me."

Sasuke sent him a nod which Naruto thought meant 'I understand'. Naruto put his arms on the table and laid his head down before his body was jerked up.

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled as Sasuke dragged him to the entrance. "Where are you taking me? Damn it! I'm talking to you!" Naruto complained a little more until Sasuke suddenly stopped. Naruto rubbed the spot where Sasuke had grabbed him and sent a glare toward the other man. "What the hell were you doing?"

"You that the smoke that is filling the whole bar is the cause of what I saw earlier. Right now, I'm deciding you need some fresh air."

"You can't just decide what I need!" Naruto would've agreed to leave without a fit, but the authoritative tone in Sasuke's last sentence just made him want to be rebellious. He frowned as Sasuke moved closer to him and instinctively shut his eyes. Naruto felt the velvety cloth being placed over him and opened his eyes in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"You might get cold." Naruto looked down at the waiter uniform he was forced to wear, and he had to agree. The uniform wouldn't exactly protect him from the cold, but he wanted to refuse. He didn't want to accept the jacket, but he also didn't want to get Sasuke angry. Sasuke wasn't the type to care much about the comfort about others so this type of gesture was rare. "Hey, hurry up. Let's go."

"Fine." Naruto slipped his arms quickly through the big jacket. Sasuke's jacket was huge compared to his transformation's body. The end of the coat almost reached down to his mid-thigh. Naruto happily buttoned the jacket up. He didn't like the fact that he had to wear the bastard's jacket, but he _hated_ that he had to wear the revealing uniform. Naruto gave a small smile when he was done. He felt less... exposed to the world.

Sasuke gave Naruto a small tug on the sleeve before he headed out the door. Naruto followed after and felt the blissful clean air hit his face.

"I wonder why I didn't think of this before." Naruto said before gulping down a deep breath of air. And to his relief, he didn't go into another round of coughing. _This feels so much better._ "What do you wanna do while we're out here?" Silence followed his answer which meant that Naruto had to pick. _Hmm. What should we do?_ "I got it!" Naruto said before he grabbed Sasuke and ran off to the destination in his mind.

He saw it on the day of their picnic. They were walking to the picnic spot when he noticed along the way that there was a small ice cream shop and a bench somewhere in the grassy fields. The bench was a little far off from the village which meant it could give Sasuke and Naruto some privacy. It wasn't as if Naruto wanted to be alone with Sasuke, but he knew that Sasuke liked his solitude. So Naruto would get a delicious treat while Sasuke would get a peaceful afternoon without people bugging him.

They reached the ice cream shop, and Naruto's face was currently pressed against the glass that stood between him and the icy treats.

"Pick one quick." Sasuke commanded.

"I'm thinking! Which one do you think is better, fruity tooty strawberry or triple fudge swirl?" As expected, Sasuke ignored the question to glare at the bright-colored wallpaper. "Oh! I know! I'll choose the... cookie dough vanilla!"

The man behind the counter gave Naruto a big grin as he picked up the biggest cone there and giving him two giant scoops. Naruto reached into one of his pockets to find his wallet, but Sasuke beat him to it.

"You don't have to do that. I got my own money, you know." Naruto complained, but Sasuke was still ignoring him. The man gave a small 'Thank you' before handing over Naruto's ice cream. "Don't you want any?" Naruto asked Sasuke before he remembered he didn't like sweets. "Fine. But you're missing out on a lot."

They left the small shop. As Naruto thought about it, Sasuke was really out of place in the shop. Each wall was painted a different bright color. There was also a little chime when you opened the door. The place screamed too cheerful for Sasuke. That's what Naruto thought as he watched Sasuke's hurried pace. _Yup. That place was too cheerful for dark Sasuke._

Naruto guided them to the little bench he saw earlier. They sat down and watched the wind making little ripples on the tips of the grass fields.

"Are you sure you can finish that? It seems like a big waste of money to me if you're going to throw it away."

_Grr._ Naruto thought. _Sasuke had just ruined the peacefulness._

But Naruto knew he didn't really mind. It was better when Sasuke talked.

"Well, it wouldn't be a waste of money if you didn't buy it. So you're the one who wasted your money. Not me." Naruto would've smirked at Sasuke's 'Hn', but he was too busy eating. "Besides, I wouldn't let something as good as this uneaten."

"Hn."

"Since I'm eating and I'm too busy to talk, why don't you tell about yourself?" Naruto paused for a while as he reviewed his progress over the month. Basically, Naruto told Sasuke basically everything that happened to him while Sasuke just sat there and kept to himself. "I barely hear about your life." _Let's see what he says._

"What do you want to know?" Naruto ignored the fact that somehow the words seemed forced.

"I don't know. How about your past? Where you were born? Your fa-friends? Oh! How about your friend that I remind you of? That would be nice to know." Naruto grimaced as he almost said family. Of course, Naruto knew he was already pushing it, but somehow, saying the word family would be like lighting the fuse to an unstable bomb inside of a volcano. Hopefully, Sasuke wouldn't notice that he had almost said family instead of friends. That would be bad. Horribly bad. "So you get to choose which one you wanna talk about."

"You're done eating now. I'm not required to talk." Sasuke said, deflating Naruto's excitement.

"What?!" Naruto gaped at the man before him. He knew that this kind of reaction was more likely than Sasuke admitting anything but it ticked Naruto off for some reason. "Come on! I don't know much about you! At least tell me some part of your life!"

"Why should I?" Did Naruto sense a little anger in the last statement? Sasuke's past _was_ a bad subject to talk about.

"Because! I barely know anything about you! I told you a lot about me so you should at least return the favor." Naruto looked at Sasuke before he was caught in a blazing glare.

"Do you think there anything in your ignorant little life that seems to be unpredictable to me? I probably could've guessed what your life was like before you even told me. You lived in a blissful world, never aware about a damn thing that was painful. You've grown up being embarrassed of your parents without realizing how easily they could be taken away from you. All that seems important to you right now is what people may think of you and money. You're just another one of those people who would rather talk of action instead of acting. You think you may know everything." Sasuke turned his head away from Naruto, refusing to even look at him. "You probably don't even know what it's like to suffer. You will never understand me."

Naruto watched Sasuke with shock. Then, his emotions seemed to empty out of his body until rage filled up the empty space.

"A lot of people have judged me. My parents were dead before I got to even see them. People shunned me when I needed them most. I was all alone, and I _suffered_ greatly." Naruto spoke in a low tone but somehow, it made his words even more deadly. "Someone finally noticed me and took me in. That's when I began to feel happy. Along the way, I found people who grew to be more like a sister and brother to me. But my brother left us when we couldn't give him what he wanted. I'm trying my damn best to find him and to stop the pain from his disappearance. I suffered, but I wanted to stop suffering. I wanted to be happy, and I worked my ass off to finally feel how it felt to be happy. A lot of people judged me even they didn't know a single thing about me. I feel disappointed that you might be one of those people." Naruto said before he turned and walked away. "I think I should go back, now." Naruto continued to walk before abruptly stopping. "By the way, I'm not angry at you, but I can't say that I'm not disappointed. But I'm not angry."

Naruto walked away but was stopped when he heard Sasuke's voice.

"I don't know how, but you manage to surprise me. Hm." Sasuke stood up and watched Naruto with cold eyes. "If you want to know about my family so bad, my parents were killed before my very eyes. As for my brother, he's pretty much dead to me, but that's still not enough. That's all I'm telling you so you better not-"

Sasuke was cut off when Naruto jumped at him and... gave him a hug?

Honestly, Naruto didn't know why he did that. It reminded him of when he had told Sakura more about his painful past, and she unexpectedly hugged him. Was this the same feeling she had felt?

Why was Naruto hugging Sasuke? Why didn't Naruto know the reason he was hugging Sasuke? Why... didn't he want to let go?

All Naruto knew was that some inexplicable force had compelled Naruto to his current action. Now, it was making him feel grateful. Why? He didn't know.

"Thank you." Naruto whispered into Sasuke's chest causing the man to stiffen.

If Naruto had looked behind him, he would've saw the uncertain expression on Sasuke's face slowly fade away as he lifted his hand and placed it on Naruto's shoulder.

"Shouldn't you be getting back now?" Sasuke said softly.

"No. Not yet." Naruto stepped back and smiled at Sasuke. "I wanna stay out here with you just a little bit longer."

* * *

This was a different feeling to Sasuke. He was confused. 

He didn't know what, but he sensed something had changed. He didn't feel different about the girl.

Sasuke still planned using her to get what he wanted.

He wouldn't let anyone get in the way of him and killing Itachi. Nothing.

So why was this bothering him?

It felt like there was something that he should know. He could feel that there was something he should know, but he couldn't seem to grasp the hidden meaning.

What was he supposed to know?

This was infuriating Sasuke. Why couldn't he figure out what is bugging him?

All it was telling him was something had changed. Something had changed.

He'd have to complete the next step in his plan then.

And he'd have to do it soon.

Sasuke ran the plans through in his mind, not noticing the creeping figure watching him.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it's so short. It's just I had some problems with this chapter so it took a while. Sorry again for that. Review. They make me feel better. 


	8. The Realization

A/N: Well, here is the eighth chapter.

Thank you to everyone who sent this story a review. :)

Anyways, on to the story!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

Naruto walked slowly to the gate while watching out for running children that would undoubtedly run into him. He had decided to skip his usual morning banters. Naruto wanted to talk to all his friends, but he wanted even more to be at the bar. Besides, this kind of decision would only happen occasionally so Naruto didn't think his friends would mind. So here he was, walking to the gate or at least he thought he was until a familiar voice called him.

"Naruto!" He turned at the unexpected obstacle standing in between him and the gate that would release him out of the village before giving his usual friendly smile and a big wave toward the figure.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" She ran over before she dropped into an exhausted position with her hands grasping her legs, her back slumped over, and her head looking at the ground as her breathing came out in short pants. "What's wrong with you?"

"I've... been running... all over the village... looking for... you." She said between tired pants. "Just... give me a minute. I'll... be back to normal." Sakura gave one last deep breathe before looking up and giving Naruto a smile. "Okay, I'm fine now."

"So why have you been trying to find me?" Naruto couldn't help it, but some impatience leaked into his voice. He just really, really wanted to get to the bar quick. Naruto mentally smiled when Sakura showed no signs of becoming angry.

"We have to talk." She said casually although, it still carried a commanding tone.

"Why don't you tell me later? I have to go to work. I don't wanna be late." Naruto gave her one last smile before turning away to leave. He was stopped when a hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder. "Umm... Sakura?"

"Can't you just stay a little longer? I don't think your boss would mind if you were a little late." Sakura softly asked before Naruto gave her a negative shake.

"Nope. They're _really_ strict about that kinda stuff. Sorry." He turned again and started walking away slowly.

"I'll treat you to ramen." She called out in a sing-song voice. Naruto stopped momentarily as he thought over the cruel decision. _Damn temptation!_

His head had a forced smile on it when it turned around to face Sakura. "Nice try, but I _really_ have to go." Wow, who ever would've thought he would've turned down ramen? Naruto gave himself a mental pat on the back. He had gotten over his greatest weakness! There should be a kind of award for this achievement. _Ha. I bet Iruka would never believe me if I told him I turned down ramen. I, Uzumaki Naruto, the greatest ninja in the world, has-_

"I'll treat you to Ichiraku's Ramen _Special_." Sakura stated smugly. Naruto gulped as his body refused to comply with his orders and move. His mind had two teams that were currently battling. One was saying that Naruto should go quickly while the other half kept on chanting the words over and over again. _Ichiraku's Ramen Special._

"You mean, the ramen with the silky noodles and golden broth?" Naruto said hesitantly while Sakura gave him a confirmative nod. "A-and the one that has _everything_on it?"

"Yup, beef, pork, and anything else you can dream of!" Sakura smiled when Naruto turned around and walked a little less proudly toward her.

"Fine." Naruto said with a dramatic sigh. "If you insist."

"Good." Naruto thought over his previous smug thoughts, suddenly feeling a little less great. _Like I said before, damn temptation!_

They walked silently to the bar. Sakura gave the orders to Ayame before turning toward Naruto, who looked strangely at her.

"Aren't you gonna order anything?"

"No." Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at Sakura's short answer.

"Then, why'd you take me here?"

"Because I wanted to talk to you, and this is the only place where you would listen to me." Naruto sighed. Sakura knew him too well.

"So... what did you want to tell me?" Naruto smiled at Ayame as she placed the scrumptious bowl of in front of him.

"Well, I wanted to tell you today is a special day."

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto was in a drug-like trance as he inhaled the intoxicating fumes from the ramen.

"Today is...," Naruto grabbed his chopsticks and lifted the precious noodles out of its bowl. "... Sai's birthday!" The noodles fell back into the water creating a small splash that went by unnoticed by the two.

"What? How did... He said Danzou never told him when his birthday was. How did you find out?"

"Well, we never had that much time whenever there were missions, but now there's an era of peace! So a few months ago, I searched through all the old documents filed under Sai and found out that his birthday is today!" Naruto was about to speak, but Sakura sent him a look to tell him she wasn't finished. "And I planned a surprise party for him tonight!"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier? I could've helped." Naruto said before turning back to his previously forgotten ramen.

"I don't know. I kinda thought you would've told him." Naruto paused before he took a bite out of the noodles.

"What? You know I wouldn't tell him that!" He complained.

"I know, but you tend to let things slip. And Sai, he's too perceptive for his own good."

"Do you remember him in the beginning? When he used to call us names because he thought they were good nicknames? I don't think that's what you call 'too perceptive'." Naruto chomped angrily on his noodles. Why wasn't he able to know the secret?

"Well, I don't know. He just gets things quickly. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, but I want to surprise him. This is his first birthday party, Naruto. I wanted to make it special." He nodded at her reasons, but he still couldn't get rid of his annoyance of being left out.

"So is that all you're gonna tell me?" He was halfway done with his noodles, its unique flavor slowly bringing up his spirits.

"No, I wanted to tell you that you better be there."

"You didn't have to tell me that. Just tell me it was Sai's birthday, and I'll be there." Naruto said before he picked up the bowl and began to chug down the broth. He put the bowl down and gave a satisfied sigh. Sakura surprised him when she reached over and patted his mouth a napkin. Erasing the traces of his sloppy eating.

"You are the messiest person ever." She put the napkin down and smiled gently. "You never change."

"What's wrong?" There was melancholy tone in her voice that alerted Naruto.

"Well, Naruto, you're Sai's best friend, and I bet he would really want you there tonight." Naruto looked strangely at Sakura. Why was she doubting him? His friends were everything to him. He would never abandon them.

"You know I'll be there."

"I just can't be sure. I mean... you spend too much time working at that bar, and we never get to see you anymore. Everyone notices that you spend way too much time at that place. Why do you like going back there?" Naruto frowned at the thought. He couldn't tell her about Sasuke yet.

"I... have to take care of something there. But I promise, as soon as it's over, I'll probably quit and come back here. So you have nothing to worry about." He gave her one of his full of confidence grin which caused her to smile.

"Okay." They got off their stools and walked outside. "Well, you better head to work."

"Yeah. Nice talking to you again Sakura." He gave her a small wave before turning around to leave.

"But remember, try not to let anything slip when you see him at the gate." She shouted.

"I won't." He shouted back before picking up speed and disappearing and then reappearing at the gate. "Hey, Sai!"

"Hello, Naruto. Leaving for work?" He said behind the stand.

"Yup." Naruto said before he swung his arm around Sai. "Have a happy birthday today!" He chirped in excitement before he could stop himself.

"What? Today is my...," Naruto pulled back his arm when he realized what he had done. "Is that what Sakura wants to talk to me about later?" So this is what Sakura meant when she said that Sai was perceptive.

"Uhh... no. My mistake. I mean, it's Shikarmaru's birthday!" He walked over to the man who was sitting besides Sai and swung his arm around him who in return, gave him a 'You're an idiot' look. Apparently, he must've been part of the plan which was messed up by Naruto.

"But Shikamaru's birthday isn't until a few months from now." Naruto hoped that Shikamaru would try to help him out but instead, the man planned to watch the scene before him instead.

"Well, I... didn't know that. Sorry, Shikamaru."

"Whatever." He said boredly before he pulled Naruto's arm off of him.

"So... uhh... I gotta go now. Okay?" Naruto said before he ran out of sight. Sai looked curiously at Shikamaru who gave him a shrug.

"It's Naruto." He said as if that would explain everything.

"Ah." Sai said before he turned back to the work.

* * *

"Ha. You're late. Kana's gonna get you." Mina said as Naruto rushed to put on his uniform. "It's kinda hard to believe you're late though."

"Why?" Naruto closed his locker and tied the messy fake locks into a ponytail. The hair was annoying him today. _How can girls stand to have them so long? They get in your face, and then they get tangled and then-_

"As if you don't know." His rant was cut short by the confusing sentence.

"Uhh... I don't."

"How could you not know? It's just like that time you didn't even remember the one month anniversary thing." Naruto sent a careless shrug toward her.

"I've never really thought that stuff was important." He said as they walked out into the bar.

"But that's like... nevermind. You're the weirdest girl I've ever met, Sobame-chan." Her statement caused Naruto to snort but luckily, the noise in the bar covered it.

"Yeah. So anyways, why is it so hard to believe I'm late?"

"Well, I don't really have the proof since I just came, but Akane and Miyu told me-"

"Hey, guys! I need you to get to work." Kana yelled before the two scurried away.

It was a slow day so not that many people came to the bar. The other waitresses huddled into a little discussion circle while Naruto hurried to the other customers. When he finally had some free time, he walked over to join them.

"So what are you guys talking about?"

"You were late today?" Miyu asked, amazed.

"Yeah, my friend needed to tell me something. What's so bad about it?"

"Well, it's just that you're never late...," Akane said.

"No, I was late before sometimes." He said tiredly. Sometimes, the girls' dug too far into an action to look for some hidden meaning. Their excuse was that they were hopeless romantics who were bored so they felt the need to mess with Naruto who had the most exciting life out of all of them. _Oh, yay._ You could just sense the sarcasm in his thoughts.

"You used to be late a _lot_." Miyu corrected.

"So? I got here on time more and more eventually."

"But you were always at least late once a week before _he_ came." Mina jumped into the trio. Honestly, Naruto had no idea where they were going with this. How does being punctual relate to Sasuke?

"And?" The girls sighed when Naruto still didn't get it.

"Well, you would usually never really care about time that much. Now, you're always looking at the clock. Why? Because you're waiting for _him_." Akane stated.

"Well, it's either I check the clock or I'd have to keep checking the spot he sits at. And that means that I'd have to go back and forth and back and forth and back-"

"Stop, Sobame-chan. Tell us _why_ you keep checking the time." Mina interrogated.

"Umm... Because I _want_ to know what time it is." Naruto said, very confused. He still didn't see their point.

"You're getting closer. Now, why do you want to know?" Miyu asked. They all watched him closely while he racked his brain for the answer they wanted.

"I want to know, because... I _don't_know." They sent him another disappointed look that he was starting to get very tired of.

"No! Because you have to know the time for you to sit with him." Naruto wrinkled his nose at Miyu's answer.

"You already told me that!"

"And you still didn't get it!" Miyu replied. "Okay, so you didn't get that. Then... tell me this. You seem happier ever since he showed up. Why?" Naruto grinned. This one was easy.

"Because most of the men stopped touching and flirting with me." His grin faded away when the girls' sent him another 'How can you not get this?' look.

"Okay, keep on going." Naruto made a face at Akane when she turned her voice into the one she would use to teach her two-year-old daughter. "Why did they stop?"

"I don't know." Damn it! Naruto was getting irked with their repetitious facial expressions. "All I know is that they stopped when I started to sit with the bastard."

"Well, you're making some progress." Miyu said with a happier expression before it turned into confused one. "You call the beautiful stranger 'bastard'? You have a weird choices for pet names."

"I think it's very fitting." Mina said, receiving a smile from Naruto.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go in a different direction. Why do you sit with him?" Miyu asked.

"I don't know. I just take my breaks with him."

"Why?" Miyu continued to pursue the wanted answer out of him.

"He was the only one that wouldn't flirt with me."

"Is there anything good traits about him that you like?" What kind of question was that?

"Umm... I like that he actually talks to me. He's a really good... listener. And... I don't know."

"Is he funny?" Akane asked.

"No. He's not the type of person who jokes."

"Is he nice?"

"He tries to be." He waited for Akane to continue speaking.

"Is he romantic?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"Aren't you his girlfriend?" Mina said, tired of the seemingly endless game. But the question had the undesired effect, Naruto was shocked for about three seconds before he fell out of his chair laughing. "Oh god, I think she's going hysterical."

"No, no. It's just that...," Naruto paused as he gasped in a deep breathe. "... I can't believe you think that him and I are like that."

"Wait, you aren't?" Miyu said in amazement.

"We're not like that. Just friends. How could you guys think that?" Naruto said, still feeling the aftershocks of his laughing fit.

"Well, it's just that when we look at you, it's shows clearly that you guys are a couple." Akane commented.

"No, we're just friends. We've never done anything like what couples do."

"Well, I came here after you guys, but when I saw you with him, I immediately assumed you guys were together." Mina admitted.

"And what about the almost kiss I saw the other day?" Miyu questioned.

"We were having an argument."

"It certainly didn't look like _just_ an argument." She remarked.

"Well, it was. I don't think it was anything more than that." Naruto couldn't imagine that Sasuke would like him.

"He was leaning in to you. Meaning that if I didn't call you, you guys probably would've kissed for sure."

"But that's impossible!" All girls gave him a grim look which caused him to worry but only a little. Just a little.

"Maybe it's impossible for _you_, but that boy likes you. He likes you a _lot_." Akane said gently as Naruto went into a little shocked state. Kana eventually chased them off but luckily left Naruto alone. Apparently, she only needed three waitresses. Giving Naruto a little bit of time to think.

_He can't think like that. I'm a guy! And he's not gay! Is he? _Naruto looked out the window but not seeing anything as he blanked out of the normal world into another world filled with his thoughts. _But, he thinks I'm a girl. _A sigh escaped Naruto when another thought came to him, basically summarizing what he had been thinking all along. _I'm in big trouble._

* * *

The atmosphere that surrounded Naruto and Sasuke was what you would call... awkward. Well, maybe it was only awkward for Naruto, and Sasuke stood there clueless about Naruto's discomfort. _Or maybe he did know but chose to say nothing._

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he carefully analyzed what his _friend_ was doing. He hadn't expected himself to watch and criticize every movement Sasuke made, but it had somehow happened. Naruto had just sat down and resumed their regular silence. Naruto made a comment, and it was at that moment Sasuke chose not to speak resulting in a staring contest which Naruto quickly broke out of. He had never noticed that an innocent little game could be associated with 'relationship' ploys.

Naruto then tried to figure out what kind of emotions Sasuke was probably feeling, but he could never get past the bastard's unemotional expression/barrier. It resulted with the conclusion made by Naruto that Sasuke was making up devious plots in his devious little mind. It was then that Sasuke suggested that they go outside. Naruto said yes but panicked inside. Why did Sasuke want to go outside... all alone... with Naruto? Was he planning anything? What if... what if he tried to kiss Naruto again? Naruto bit his the inside of his cheek nervously as his frantic thoughts continued to attack him, totally forgetting that the two had spent Naruto's breaks outside for the past few days or so.

After that, Sasuke told Naruto to put on his jacket, but Naruto volunteered to go out with no coat. But unfortunately, he was currently suffering from the cold breeze grazing past his skin.

So that was what led Naruto to his current predicament, Sasuke walking silently beside a very nervous Naruto. He didn't notice the familiar path that Sasuke was leading him toward, but instead, followed without a thought. He didn't notice the bench that had become their usual spot to discuss things, but sat down besides Sasuke anyways. He didn't notice the scrutinizing look that Sasuke was sending him but chose to look blankly at the field in front in him.

"Hey," Sasuke voice cut through Naruto's thought haze which caused Naruto to whip his head toward Sasuke. And then, finding that Sasuke's face was a mere inch away from his, Naruto jumped which caused him to land not too gently on the ground. "What's wrong with you today?"

Naruto managed to send Sasuke a glare even while he was on the ground. "What?" Naruto sat up slowly, rubbing his throbbing cheek. He peeked at Sasuke who was looking intently at him before turning his head away. _Why does he have to look at me like that? Creepy._

Too bad for Naruto, his action made Sasuke grab his chin and force Naruto to look at Sasuke as he began to speak. "What's making you nervous?" Naruto tugged his face out of Sasuke's grip and sent another killer glare.

"W-what are you talking about?" Naruto finally stood up and sat at the edge of the bench, very far from Sasuke, while trying to look as if he weren't trying to avoid Sasuke's contact.

"You're doing it, right now. You're acting different."

"What? I am _not_-" Naruto turned around to stare at Sasuke who didn't care that he was bursting Naruto's personal space bubble again. But he did care (or at least Naruto thought he did) when Naruto stood up and walked a couple of meters away from him before turning around to shout at the man. "Damn it! Would you not get so close?"

"Hn." Sasuke looked away indifferently, trying to find a solution to the waitress's current problem. "Are you have a monthly problem?"

"What are you talking a-" Naruto paused as he figured it out. _Did Sasuke just ask me if I was PMSing? _

Naruto glanced at Sasuke who still held his serious expression despite of his earlier silly question. It only took him about another half second before Naruto laughed at Sasuke.

"What are you laughing at?" Sasuke said as he sent an indignant glare at Naruto.

"Sorry, but I just can't believe you asked me that. Say it again!" But the command only met silence. Naruto sighed. Sasuke was still as much of a bastard he was back when they were in school. _Ahh, I can remember it all. Sakura, slowly changing into the woman she is today. Me, improving and surprising everyone. Sasuke, getting pelted with girls who had no idea that he didn't like them. But wait, he never cared for romance and girly stuff like that so..._

Naruto pieced together the evidence: how Sasuke treated girls, his unemotional behavior, and the way Naruto was treating him. _Oh, boy._

"Hey." Naruto said in a melancholy tone, because of the fact that Naruto knew he had to apologize. And the _other_ simple fact that Naruto didn't want to. _Damn._

"What? Are you going to tell me why you're acting so idiotic?" Well, that's it. No apology for Sasuke.

"Well, I _was_, but now, I won't." Naruto waited to see if Sasuke would reply, but instead, chose to stay silent. _No shock there_. Naruto rolled his eyes at the thought. But he planned for this to happen. "So you don't want to know? I'll tell you if you say 'please'." Nope, Sasuke did not take Naruto's bait, but this time, Naruto got Sasuke to at least look away with an annoyed expression and completely ignored the blonde's taunts. Fine! Two could play at that game.

Naruto narrowed his eyes into a competitive stance. So the two stayed quiet. But eventually, the silence was too much for Naruto to bear. He loved noise. Noise filled the dull quiet with life. But damn it! Naruto was of the competitive nature, and he wouldn't let Sasuke win the battle, would he? No.

But, it was quiet. Not the usual 'no voices' silence,_ everything_ was completely motionless and mute. Naruto couldn't hear the cherry tree's leaves rustle as the wind blew through it or hear the lives of the animals chirping or scampering around. It was too much.

"Fine!" Naruto's body instantly relaxed as his voice pierced through the dark silence. "I'll tell you what happened."

Sasuke turned toward him, and Naruto could sense the smugness that practically radiated from Sasuke. _Damn him._

But Naruto didn't want to go through the painful torture he went through a minute ago, so he just ignored it, but it was still a hard thing to do.

"What?" Sasuke asked boredly, but it happened to make Naruto feel better that Sasuke was finally starting to speak.

"Well, it was a slow day today so all of the waitresses including me were talking. And then they told me the funniest thing." Naruto gave a small chuckle before he even told the funny part. "Wait. I have to tell you what happened first. My friend wanted to talk to me in the morning so then I was late to work. And then they all began to interrogate me and all that stuff. And here's the funny part, they thought we were a couple! Can you believe that?! Me and _you_? So I tell them that I would never like you like that. But then they go and say that _you_ liked me. So I don't know why but I just got kinda scared of you for a while. But then I remembered that you couldn't possibly like me cuz we're just friends. We are _just_friends... right?" Naruto sent a hyper smile toward Sasuke although, there was a little desperation in it. He didn't want and hoped that Sasuke didn't like him. Naruto had no idea how he would handle that situation.

Sasuke stared at Naruto showing no signs that he even _heard_ what Naruto said. Naruto sat completely still as he waited for the answer. He needed to know. Suddenly, Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, and Naruto unknowingly leaned forward to hear.

"Yes. We are." A relieved grin broke out onto Naruto's face.

"Great. You don't know how happy that makes me." Sasuke just sent Naruto a small nod as he did some more thinking. Naruto was leaning his back on the chair and closing his eyes when he suddenly jumped up. "Oh crap! I think we've been out here for too long! We gotta go back!"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulled him up. "Come on! Let's go." Naruto tried to start running, but Sasuke chose to keep his slow pace. "Damn it! I'm gonna be late! We have to _go_."

"We're not going to be late." He said coolly, but Naruto continued to tug on his arm. He stopped for a moment before forcefully yanking Sasuke's arm which caused Sasuke to move forward. But just a little big.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Because." That was Sasuke's almighty answer that made Naruto grind his teeth together in frustration. Naruto tried another method. He walked behind before putting his two arms forward and pushing Sasuke.

"I hate you." Naruto said when Sasuke moved quicker but was still too slow for Naruto to be satisfied. It continued for a few more minutes, the tug-a-war between the two. Naruto would pull, push, and try anything to make Sasuke move while Sasuke just pulled, or pushed in the opposite direction. Just making it hard for Naruto. Suddenly, Sasuke turned left and walked into an alley. "Hey! What are you doing?"

Sasuke said nothing as he continued to walk. Naruto looked forward at the direction they were supposed to be heading to reach the club's entrance. Why did he have to do this? They were so close, too. All they would have to was turn the next corner, and they were there.

Naruto looked down the dark alley. _Wait a minute._

He was heading toward the back door! Why didn't Naruto think of that? He could still see Sasuke's blank face from where he was currently standing before he walked in.

Naruto smiled when he distinctly made out the outline of the backdoor. Hopefully, he could sneak in, and no one would notice. Naruto sent a small 'thank you' to Sasuke in his mind as he reached for the handle.

Without warning, Sasuke's hand shot out in front of Naruto's face causing Naruto to gasp in a huge breathe of air before turning dangerously toward Sasuke.

"What the _fuck_?" What did Sasuke want to do? Scare the living crap out of Naruto? "What the hell were you doing? First, you wouldn't move any faster even though I told you I was gonna be late. And now, you're blocking my freaking way. Move!"

Naruto shoved Sasuke's arm away, but it still remained there. Oh, what he wouldn't do to use his ninja super strength. He turned the other way, but Sasuke's other arm slammed down onto the brick wall, blocking Naruto's escape route. Naruto's eyes glanced over to his left where Sasuke's arm blocked the way, and then moved toward his right to see the same.

"What do you think you're doing?" Naruto shoved Sasuke again who still wouldn't move. "Are you _trying_ to make me late?" It was when Sasuke started to lean down that Naruto finally understood what he wanted to do. Naruto brought both his hands to shield him from Sasuke's face. "I thought you said we were only friends!"

The statement luckily stopped Sasuke who looked like he was contemplating Naruto's sentence. Naruto watched Sasuke's face to see what would happen when Sasuke suddenly smirked.

"I did."

"Then, why...," Sasuke just looked amused at Naruto's mystified expression.

"We_are_ friends." Sasuke leaned his head down but was intercepted when Naruto brought his hands up. "But I want to be more." Naruto had no time to react as Sasuke grabbed both his arms with one hand and moved them to the side and dived in.

Of course, Naruto could've broke Sasuke's tight grip, but he lost the ability to move when he felt Sasuke's lips on his own. His arms stopped resisting, and his body went limp. Sasuke let go of Naruto's arms and opted instead to hold Naruto's body to keep it from falling on the floor. His other hand held up Naruto's chin.

Every thought ran out of Naruto's mind as all he could do was simply stare at Sasuke. It was a weird sensation actually. To not welcome the other pair of lips on his own but not really detest the feeling. He didn't _want_ to like it, but he knew the feeling he felt wasn't exactly hate.

Naruto was feeling two completely different emotions that were battling inside his body. The want to deny any feelings that aroused during kiss other than disgust and then, the actual feeling. Naruto knew he wanted Sasuke to stop, but he couldn't identify the emotions that he was feeling.

Finally, Naruto breathed in a deep breathe when he felt the removal of a certain pressure on his lips. His mind finally broke through its haze that (Naruto thought) was caused by the denied oxygen assess. Naruto was still breathing with deep pants when Sasuke stood up.

Wordlessly, Sasuke offered a hand which Naruto took. His body was still a little numb but managed to walk into the bar without arousing suspicions of their earlier actions that caused Naruto to become breatheless.

Naruto immediately took off as Sasuke took off toward the corner table booth that was claimed as his own.

There was something Naruto should be realizing. Something he should know. But for some reason, his mind was pushing the realization out his mind. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't even know what it was, but he knew that if he thought about it long enough, he would find out. And like they say, ignorance is bliss.

Although, it didn't help when Sasuke stayed longer than he normally would've. Naruto wanted to block out all thoughts that concerned Sasuke, but how could he possibly not think of him when Naruto could feel Sasuke staring at him?

The other waitresses chatted and giggled when it was turning late, and Sasuke was still there. Naruto looked at the clock, and then glanced at Sasuke.

It was almost time for him to leave, but he knew of the confrontation that was bound to happen as soon as he stepped out of the bar. Eventually, when Naruto knew he could stall no longer, he walked outside.

His predictions proved true when Sasuke cornered him.

"Just leave me alone." Naruto whispered.

The moonlight gently displayed Sasuke's face. Dark obsidian eyes filled with mystery, and long dark locks that framed his face beautiful. How did Naruto not notice how perfect Sasuke's facial image was before?

It was then that the realization that Naruto had tried to avoid came to him. Of course, he tried to stop it before it became a full fledged thought, but it still came. His heart pumped faster, and he hid his face in hands as the thought finally made itself known.

_I-I like Sasuke._

Naruto knew that this little information made everything much more complicated. It also became more complicated when Sasuke lifted his face out of his hands and gave him a soft kiss. But what made it even more troublesome was when Naruto kissed Sasuke back with the same intensity.

This was certainly something Naruto had never expected, but what he did expect that it would change everything for him.

* * *

Sasuke certainly didn't think he would be kissing his little victim, but the girl's little comment made him think. Which route would accomplish his goal faster? Obtaining her trust through friendship or a relationship?

He thought back to all the girls that easily fell to his feet and concluded this girl was no different.

So seduction would be the better choice.

But he had to admit, it unnerved him how much the girl reminded him of Naruto. He didn't let this little suspicion get away either. His sharingan was used, but it still didn't prove the girl was Naruto. And his sharingan was never wrong. So while he doubted it for a while, he knew nothing was strong enough to fool his ability. So as much as she resembled him, she wasn't Naruto.

This wasn't arrogance, either. Sasuke was smart. He would know. But there was also a little detail that he didn't know would happen.

When he made up the plan to kiss the girl, he thought he would have to endure the feelings of disgust that would come from touching her in an intimate way. But how come he didn't feel any disgust at all?

Sasuke discarded this little detail when he concluded it was not important. He had bigger things to think about.

* * *

A/N: It was a little rushed at the end, but I wanted to put this up before I'm forced to go on this family trip. So I might come back and edit this later. Hope you like this chapter! Review. 


	9. Exceptionally Beautiful

A/N: Sorry, it's late. If you haven't read it on my profile, you'll find out now. The rubber that holds all the wires in my recharger ripped open so I can't recharge my laptop unless I want to get shocked. Good news: I have a back up computer. Bad news: It's the family computer that everyone uses so my time is limited. I could've probably finished this chapter sooner, but life got in the way so I'm really sorry. : (

Sorry it took so long to put up this chapter. And sorry that it'll probably take a while before the next chapter is posted.

Well, here's the ninth chapter!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

Naruto was sulking in Ichikaru's Ramen Bar. He was thinking about yesterday, while trying to find out what he was forgetting. It happened ever since last night. His mind kept on nagging and telling him that he was forgetting something important, but he couldn't remember what. After a moment, he gave up when he still couldn't find out what he was forgetting and thought about yesterday's events instead.

The situation he was in reminded him of a gooey, romantic film Sakura forced him to watch with her once.

The plot in the movie consisted of a strong friendship between the two leading actors. The boy in the film always thought of the girl as a little sibling while the sister maintained the same idea. But through some sort of random moment, the boy realizes that he loves the girl as a lover. Of course, Naruto called out that he thought that it was stupid. How could sibling love suddenly turn into a romantic love?

But now, Naruto was wondering. Is that what happened to him?

_No, it still doesn't make sense! _His mind declared.

Now, Naruto was sure that the idea was stupid. It wasn't as if you could suddenly look at your brother and realize you loved him that way. Even if you weren't _related_to a person you considered a sibling, it's still the same concept. You couldn't exactly love 'blood' _that_ way. Could you?

So, Naruto must've never actually considered Sasuke a brother. He thought he did, but maybe he didn't.

That didn't mean that Naruto didn't care for Sasuke. Naruto wanted the best for Sasuke. Naruto never wanted anything to hurt Sasuke in any kind of way. He wanted Sasuke to be happy and protected. He also wanted to be by Sasuke's side. But, that couldn't exactly be classified as brotherly love, could it? But then again, it couldn't be headed toward the lover department either.

So what Naruto used to feel for Sasuke was neither brotherly nor romantic. It was always in the middle being tugged in both directions but never falling into the category. But after Sasuke's little kiss yesterday, the romance department won the little tug-a-war. Now, Naruto knew what he was feeling for Sasuke and also knew the reason why.

But then another thing to question was his sexuality, Naruto always thought himself to be straight, but now, he questioned if he was attracted to the male gender. But, Naruto couldn't be exactly gay, could he?

It was a little hard for Naruto to admit this, but he was a bit perverted. Naruto remembered the times where he tried to peek on girls in Hot Springs, and even tried to peek on Sakura. Hey! He just wanted to see some girl action. Nothing extremely _bad_.

Not to mention that he had some experience with girlfriends.

First was Sakura, but that 'relationship' only lasted one day. Apparently, neither of their feelings could go further than the friendship boundary. They both laughed at that experience after though and were still best of friends to this day.

His second was Hinata. After _finally_ figuring out that she liked him, they went out for a little bit before it became too awkward for both of them. Naruto somehow always said the wrong thing or got too close, and Hinata would end up on the floor because of her fainting attacks. They both agreed though that the best thing for them would to be just friends. After that little agreement, Hinata became a little more comfortable around Naruto.

The third (and last) relationship Naruto experienced with some village girl who wasn't a ninja. It was his longest relationship he had, but she broke up with him after complaining that he went off to missions too much and that she never got to see him.

Now, he was experiencing his fourth. But did Naruto actually have a 'relationship' with Sasuke? He had no idea, but he knew he liked him. So what did that make Naruto?

He liked girls, but he liked guys, too. What's that called? A bisexual? Yes, Naruto figured it out. He was a bisexual, but it felt a little weird to say that about himself. But what else was he? No, he was attracted to both genders of the human race. So now that that's decided. He had to think about other things.

How was he going to bring Sasuke back exactly? He had thought he would just act like himself to distract Sasuke from vengeful thoughts until Sasuke would realize that there were better things in life that he should focus on. And, it was a little nice that Naruto got to spend some time with Sasuke. The person he used to think of as only a friend. But now, Sasuke was his...

Naruto sighed. This was too complicated. Maybe he should tell someone so they could help him. Like Sakura. Should he tell her? She obviously wanted to know what's been going on at the bar, but he already agreed to keep the little secret to himself. Although, weren't two heads better than one? But, if he told her, she'd have to tell the Hokage. After all, she was really loyal to Tsunade who was her previous master.

Naruto didn't want the information to leak out. He could handle this one on his own, couldn't he?

And didn't Sakura like Sasuke? Actually, she used to be obsessed with him. Well, maybe when they were younger. But would she be mad that Naruto and Sasuke were... together? _Damn, it still feels weird to say it._

Maybe Naruto should ask her.

But he wouldn't want to get her mad, because she gets really, really scary. So he-

Naruto lost his train of thought, because he finally remembered what he forgot. _Oh, no._

Naruto dropped his head onto the counter and banged it repeatedly against the hard wood, ignoring the weird looks he was receiving from some other customers._ Don't tell me I missed it._

"Naruto!" Sakura's voice rang out. "How could you miss it?!" _Oh god. She's gonna kill me, but damn it! How could I miss Sai's first birthday party? Oh, fuck._

"Sakura...,"

"Do you know how long we waited? Huh? We almost lost our reservation at the restaurant we were taking Sai to, because we wanted to wait for you! But then, you didn't show up! You said you'd be there, but then, you... didn't...," Sakura's sentence trailed off as she saw the pained expression on his face. "Naruto?"

"Sakura, what did... how did Sai react... to me not being there?" Sakura felt some of her anger fade away, although, it was still not completely forgotten.

"Are you sure?" Naruto nodded, grimly. "I told him you'd be there, but when you didn't show up, he kept on believing you'd still come. He was disappointed, though. He tried not to act like it, because he didn't want to ruin anybody's fun, but I could tell. He was upset." Sakura jumped a little when Naruto suddenly twisted around in his seat and resumed his previous bangings.

"I can't believe it. I'm his best friend, and I-"

"Idiot. Stop hitting your head on the table. It won't help." She placed a hand on top of Naruto's head to stop his destructive actions. "Whatever stopped you from coming to the party must've been big 'cuz I know you wouldn't have _not_come for no reason. So what happened?" Naruto flushed as he remembered yesterday's events and chose to bury his face into his folded arms causing Sakura to sigh. "Fine, if you don't want to tell me, I'll respect your privacy." For now at least. It wasn't Sakura's fault that she was a _little_ bit curious. Maybe nosy. But then again, who wasn't?

"Thanks, Sakura. So tell me, what _did_ happen at the party?" Sakura sat down next to Naruto and tilted her head into a thinking position as she remembered the events of the party.

"Well, it was just a normal party, but there was this one part at the restaurant we were eating. There was a waitress, and you could practically see hearts in her eyes every time she looked at Sai. Every time she would 'check' up on us, she would always _accidentally_ touch Sai and would whisper certain things into his ear. There was this one time when she whispered something, and Sai blushed!" Naruto and Sakura laughed at that.

"Really? How red did his face get?" Naruto said, trying to create a mental image with a blushing Sai.

"Well, let's just say that the chef could've used Sai's head to replace the tomatoes."

"Oh god! What did that lady say, anyway?" Naruto leaned in, almost falling out of his chair. He wanted to hear the magical words that caused Sai to turn into a living tomato.

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me. Damn Sai. I even threatened to beat it out of him. He _still_didn't tell." Sakura gave an aggravated pout at the idea while Naruto just gave another laugh.

"Damn. I should've been there." Naruto became silent as he felt another wave of guilt pass through him. Sakura laid a hand on his shoulder and shook him a little bit to knock him out of the trance.

"Idiot. Stop thinking about that. Besides, you're supposed to pay attention to a girl when she's talking." Naruto chuckled a little before giving her a nod.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. So what were you saying to me before I zoned out?" Naruto raised his hand to get the man behind the bar's attention while listening to Sakura talk.

"As I was saying, it's just been so long since we've hung out together. I mean, it's the longest time period filled with peace so far. Everyone is calling it the Era of Harmony, because there has been absolutely no fighting going on between any two countries. It's so weird. We finally get to relax and finally have time to be around each other. But, you're never around. You know?" Naruto gave a small order for ramen (He wasn't going to go the ramen bar to only just sulk and talk to the girl next to him, was he?) before turning back to Sakura.

"Sorry 'bout that, but I already told you. I have to finish something at the bar, and then, I'll quit. Simple as that."

"Yeah, I guess." Naruto thanked the man for the ramen before picking up his chopsticks and jumping into the food. "God, Naruto. Calm down!" Naruto gave Sakura a look while still nibbling on his noodles causing Sakura to roll her eyes. "Oh, yeah. You and your love of ramen."

"Yup." Naruto chugged down the rest of the broth, ignoring the disgusted looks Sakura sent him.

"I swear, you're such a pig." Sakura smiled slightly at the sight of Naruto's messy face before it turned serious. "Naruto, you said that you had to finish something at the bar. Is it really _that_ important?" Naruto placed the bowl down before thinking of a way to answer her question without arousing her suspicions. If he said it was important, she would probably want to know what he was doing so she could help. If he said it wasn't that important, she would wonder why he wanted to do it then and demand him to stop.

Ha, he was just making it sound more complicated than it was.

"Well, it's not that important, but I know I have to do it before I go," Sakura nodded her head.

"Is your time limited?" Naruto gave the money to Ayame before turning toward Sakura again.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you have a time limit or can you your spare some of your time to spend with us?"

"Well, I guess." Naruto said, uncertainly. Where was this going?

"Good." She muttered, leaving Naruto to wonder what she was up to before he remembered what he wanted to ask her before. But how would he ask her? _Hmm... Oh! I got it!_

"Hey, Sakura." Naruto called out to her in his most 'innocent' voice.

"Yeah?"

"You're Tsunade's assistant so she tells you things that happen in the village. Right?" Naruto stroked his hair and gave an innocent look toward Sakura, another part of the I'm-going-to-ask-you-for-something-so-please-say-yes stance.

"Yeah..."

"Well, can you tell me if they found any traces of Sasuke?"

"That's confidential, Naruto," Naruto changed his expression into a disappointed one and hoped it would work on Sakura. "Don't give me that look, Naruto." No, it didn't work. "I don't even know yet. Anyways, the scouting shinobi are supposed to come back with their news today. So I know nothing so far."

"Fine." Naruto paused as he thought over his next question. "Hey... uhh... do you... still like Sasuke?" Naruto watched her closely to see her reaction, hoping it wasn't anger. So naturally, he was confused when Sakura became all flushed. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Well, no. I don't like Sasuke that way anymore." Naruto nodded, greatly relieved.

"Well... uhh... why not?" Naruto asked when he couldn't think of anything else to say.

"How should I know? I just… don't." Sakura waited for an answer, but when Naruto stayed quiet, she knew he wanted her to explain why. "It's just... it's like you and me, Naruto. Remember when you used to like me?" Naruto smiled as he thought back to those old times.

"Ha, how weird was I when I was a kid? I can't believe I used to like you like that." Naruto paused as he felt Sakura's murderous glare at the back of his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto quickly raised his hands and waved them in a gesture that meant he didn't mean it the way she thought he did.

"I-I mean... you're my best friend, and I can't look at you as anything more than a really close friend. So I was just saying it felt weird to remember how I used to think as more than that." Naruto covered his face and waited for the blow to come.

His heart slowed down when he didn't feel any pain. He peeked nervously at Sakura to see her sag in the chair tiredly.

"Okay, good. Well, back to what I was saying before. You don't like me anymore. Why?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders before giving out an answer.

"I don't know. You're my friend." Sakura nodded at his answer.

"Yeah, well, Sasuke's my friend, too."

"Yeah."

"Besides," Sakura looked away, as if she was embarrassed at what she was going to say. "... I'm going out with Rock Lee." Naruto jumped out of his chair and pointed at Sakura.

"_What_?!" How could bushy brow and Sakura end up together? She thought he was horrifyingly creepy when she first saw him. How did it come to this?

"Calm down, Naruto. You're embarrassing me." Sakura waved off the people that looked strangely at the overreacting blonde.

"But... but... how?" Naruto sat down and sent a confused look toward Sakura.

"Well, after all the flowers, candy, and gifts, I started to feel guilty. I mean, he even sent me some _jewels_. So when he asked me to go out with him, I felt really bad so I just said yes. And he was really sweet, and it was just really nice." She gushed about her boyfriend with a small blush.

"So, you and bushy brow, huh?" She crossed her arms and sent a glare toward Naruto.

"Don't call him bushy brow!"

"But I always call him that, and he never minds."

"Well, I do. And, I kinda ...got him to wax his eyebrows. Well, I tried to trim them down to normal size, but he wouldn't let me. So it's not that big anymore, but it's bigger than the average eyebrow." She muttered the last part and ignored the laughter that came from Naruto; her soon-to-be-dead best friend if he didn't stop laughing.

"I never expected you guys to be together. It's so weird!"

"Whatever." She snapped. "Don't you have to go to work?" Sakura retorted in her annoyed state and received a very satisfied feeling when he froze in shock.

"Oh, shit. What time is it?" He looked at the clock before whipping his head to Sakura. "I gotta go! Bye!"

"Okay. Well," Sakura watched as Naruto ran toward the gate, leaving behind him small dust clouds that caused some of the people nearby to start coughing. "...bye."

Naruto ran until he reached the gate. He walked up to Sai and began the usual routine. "Hurry up. I'm late to work."

"Okay, Naruto you can go." Sai said, emotionlessly.

"Oh, and by the way...," Naruto gave Sai a giant grin and whispered his question to the man. "... what did that girl say to you yesterday?" Sai turned his head to the side, but Naruto could clearly see the uneasy look on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking."

"Sure, Sai." Naruto gave him a wink at his flustered expression before leaving. Sai shook his head and sighed.

"By tonight, Sakura will tell everyone in the village." Sai sighed again. Shikamaru, who had been sitting next to Sai the whole time, just watched the troublesome events with silence.

* * *

"So, where are we going?" 

"Hn." Naruto glared at the man beside him. Apparently, nothing had really changed for the two. Sasuke was still a bastard, and Naruto was still stuck with him. He didn't know what to do. Naruto didn't want to bring up the subject, but how could he ignore what happened yesterday? But maybe this would give him time to think. _Forget it. If Sasuke's not gonna talk about it, I won't either._ "Where do we usually go?" _Oh, look. Sasuke talked._

"The bench in the fields?"

"Yes."

"But we always go there, don't you wanna do something new? Something exciting. I mean, going there _every_,_single_ day gets... boring! Come on, let's do something else in town." Naruto sent an excited smile toward Sasuke, but it was ignored when the man continued to walk toward the fields. "Why won't you answer me?"

"Because you can understand me without the use of words." Naruto wrinkled his brow and gave Sasuke another tired look.

"That doesn't mean I like silence. You have a voice. You can use it!" Sasuke sent Naruto a look that stood for a silent 'no'. "You suck, you know that?" Sasuke didn't retaliate to his statement, leaving a grumbling Naruto to walk beside him through town.

Eventually, they reached the fields. Sasuke sat down while Naruto chose to stand. He looked upon the blonde who was deep in thought.

Naruto stood looking at the fields. There was a slight breeze blowing, but Naruto barely felt it while he underneath Sasuke's thick jacket.

It was so bright out there. The sun was shining, but there were some clouds out to make sure it wasn't too bright. The fields were covered in small flowers that swayed with the breeze, and Naruto could make out a few butterflies fluttering around. Today was one of those exceptionally beautiful days that didn't happen too often.

Naruto turned around to face Sasuke. It was beautiful today, but he probably wouldn't get to enjoy it with the dipstick here.

"Maybe we can go over there." Sasuke raised his head and looked at the direction Naruto was pointing at.

"There's no bench." Naruto was about to open his mouth and make a sarcastic comment, but Sasuke stopped him. "And I'm not sitting on the ground, either."

"Why do you wanna stay here? Let's go over there."

"No." Naruto walked over to the bench with a pout before switching to another plan. Annoy Sasuke.

Naruto reached a hand over and poked Sasuke's arm. "Let's go." No reaction to Naruto whatsoever. So he reached over and gave Sasuke another hard poke. "Now." Naruto scowled when Sasuke remained unaffected by his antics. He reached over to give another poke when Sasuke smacked his hand away. Naruto sent Sasuke an annoyed look but mentally smirked. _Ha, I got a reaction out of Sasuke. Just need to do a little more before he cracks._

"Let's go!" He reached out to poke him again but was swatted away. Okay, so that method won't work anymore. "You know, it would just be easier if you'd just go." Sasuke ignored Naruto. "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Leave! Now! Get up! Get up! Get up! Get-" Sasuke's hand covered Naruto's mouth, effectively blocking any other words that would come out of the hyper blonde's mouth.

Wordlessly, Sasuke got up and started to walk in the direction Naruto pointed at. Grinning, Naruto ran up to catch up the man.

"See! Was that so hard?"

As expected, his question was met by silence. They continued to walk until Naruto finally decided he was satisfied with the distance and grabbed Sasuke. He yanked Sasuke down before he managed to get away. Somehow, Sasuke even managed the fall with some sort of grace.

"We're here. What do you plan on doing now?"

"I guess we could... talk!" Sasuke sent Naruto another look. "Or we don't have to. We can just lie down and look at the clouds."

Naruto watched the man mentally decide what was the better option. Sasuke suddenly lied down on the grass, and Naruto soon followed.

They looked upon the clouds in silence for about a few minutes before Naruto became restless. Looking at clouds was interesting, but it had a hypnotizing affect on its viewers, which meant Naruto had a hard time keeping his drooping eyes open.

"What do you see?" Naruto elbowed Sasuke when he chose not to talk. But even that did not get him to talk. "Well, I see... a sheep... a deformed apple... and oh! Look! It's a turtle. Tell me what you see."

"Clouds."

"Hey! That's no fun! You have to imagine something. Do it! It's fun." Naruto twisted his head to view Sasuke. His face was caught in the sunlight, and it looked... Naruto turned his head back before he could finish that kind of thought. "So do you see anything yet?"

"..."

"Fine. We don't have to play this game." _Since one of us isn't talented as I am at this game. _"What do you think of the... weather?"

"What do you mean?" Naruto placed his hands under his head into a more comfortable position.

"I mean. Today. It's really nice out, but I don't know. It seems like you don't really care. Do you prefer rainy, darker days?"

"They're all meaningless to me." Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"What?"

"It doesn't matter whether it's raining or sunny. It's meaningless to me."

"What days do have meaning for you then?" He watched closely for any expressions that could possibly display any emotions Sasuke was feeling. Naruto was surprised when Sasuke suddenly turned toward him.

"Those days are over."

"Why?"

"..."

"Why won't you answer me?" Sasuke had turned back to face the sky.

"It's none of your business."

"Then, what's the point about telling me that your days are meaningless, but that you used to have some meaningful ones? That makes me want to know, but now, you won't tell me why or what happened in those days!"

"You would've pestered me until I talked." Naruto flipped onto his side and watched Sasuke who still kept his gaze out of reach.

"Well, you talked before, because you knew I'd bother you. Why did you stop talking now? I could just start bothering you again."

"But there is a limit to how much I will tell you."

"That's not fair. I tell you a lot of things about myself, but you tell me nothing!" Naruto retorted.

"On the contrary, you tell me mostly things that have happened to you but not about yourself." Naruto thought about that comment and remembered all the stories he had told Sasuke about Konoha and his adventures. _Damn. He's right._

"Well, I tell you about my friends. Why don't you tell me about your friends?"

"Aren't you the one who declared that I probably didn't have any friends at our first dinner?" Naruto winced when he remembered the dinner-not-date thing.

"But that was because you were ticking me off, I didn't think I was actually right. So… is it lonely without friends?"

"I have people talk to me everyday. That is not what you call 'lonely'."

"The people that talk to you, aren't they your friends?" Sasuke frowned (a different kind of frown from his usual bored one).

"They're hardly what I would call friends."

"Oh. Well, can you tell me about those people then?"

"No."

"_What_?!" Naruto's loud voice boomed through the quiet field.

"You want tales to amuse you. I don't have any."

"Oh. Umm...," Naruto thought hard to come up with something to say. But, that meant he had to abandon their current subject even though he wanted to know more. "... well, you say that I don't really say that much about myself, and I say the same thing about you."

"And?"

"Let's start with small things. Like 'what's your favorite color'?"

"Fine. What's your favorite color?" Naruto wrinkled his brow.

"I asked you first!"

"..."

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you. I like a lot of colors though. Most of them are bright colors, but there are some dark colors. I really like... orange and black. Those colors are awesome." Naruto plucked some pieces of grass and started flicking them at Sasuke, but stopped when he received a glare. "Umm... what's your favorite color?"

"I don't have any use for those kind of trivial things."

"What? I answered for _you_." Sasuke sent a bored look toward Naruto that was translated in a 'Do you think I care?' before looking back up the sky. "Tell me! Is it blue?"

"No."

"...black?"

"No."

"Grey."

"No."

"Indigo?"

"No."

"Pink!" Okay, well maybe that was a bad thing to say. But unfortunately, Naruto had run out of dark colors for Sasuke. Speaking of Sasuke, he was currently sending a strange look while Naruto tried to wave it off. "So... _is_ it pink?"

"No."

"You know, this would be so much easier if you just told me." Naruto waited for the man beside him to say something but sighed when he didn't. Dealing with Sasuke was truly tiring. "Fine, another question. What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"..."

"Okay. I'll start. Like I always do. When I grow up... I dream I'll be able to protect the ones that are close to me, but that's probably everyone's dream. But I know I'll achieve it! So what about you?"

"I have certain plans for the future that I won't be telling you."

"What?"

"But after that, I'm not sure what will become of me." He replied softly. That made Naruto slightly angry. Wouldn't Sasuke want to return back to the village? Would he just let himself slowly fade away?

"Really? Well, you don't have to worry about that now. Some people choose to go along with the flow, but others make plans. I thought you would be one of those people."

"What are you implying?" Naruto smirked. Did he anger the great old Uchiha? But then again, he couldn't really tell when Sasuke's voice was devoid of any emotion.

"Oh, nothing. What are… your likes?" Naruto smiled a very cat-like grin when Sasuke didn't respond to his answer. "Okay, I'll go first." He paused a minute as he thought about what to say. "Well, the things I like are... ramen, working: everyone says that it sucks, but I like it. And hanging out with friends, hanging out with you: even though you don't talk that much. I also like to talk: I can talk about anything, but you wouldn't know because you don't like to talk so then, I have nothing to say. And another thing, I don't like talking to myself. I think that's kind of weird. Some people would think I'm fine with that kind of stuff, but I'm not. Besides, it's more interesting to talk with other people than yourself. I also like to fight. Not the I-wanna-beat-you-up fights, but the thrill of the competition. You know? I'm also interested in just haven't plain fun. That means a lot of things, because there are so many ways to have fun! Also, I-"

"Stop." Naruto glared at Sasuke. How dare he try to boss Naruto around like that? Who did he think he was?

"No."

"Do you want me to cover your mouth again?" Naruto thought over the scene at the bench when Sasuke covered his mouth. He was a little mad, but it had quickly disappeared when Sasuke had gotten up to leave. But now, he was threatening to do the same act. That made Naruto really mad.

"I'll bite your hand off."

"That's not very lady-like."

"That's not very gentleman-like to threaten to cover my mouth."

"..."

"Ha, I beat you. You can't command someone to stop. You have to ask them, but even if you asked me right now, I won't stop. So you can't stop me from talking! Do you have anything to say?" Naruto glanced over at Sasuke who looked like he was in deep thought. "Hey! You're supposed to pay attention to a girl when she's talking!" Naruto repeated Sakura's line to Sasuke. He smirked when Sasuke glanced up at him, a sign to show that he was paying attention now. "So anyways, where were we? I remember! Okay, so what do I like... well, there's this thing called-"

Naruto was unprepared for when Sasuke pushed him so that he lay completely on his back and that Sasuke happened to be on top of him. Their faces merely close enough to make Naruto blush, but far enough so that Naruto could push him away if he wanted.

"You still think I don't have other ways of silencing you?"

"W-what the hell? Get off of me!" Sasuke quickly pinned Naruto's arms down to his side and sent him another arrogant smirk.

"What are you going to do? Bite me?"

"Well, I can kick you where you don't want to be kicked!"

"Really? I'd think you be too busy." Naruto paled when he understood the meaning behind Sasuke's words.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Would you want to find out?"

"Oh no! You better not even think about-" Sasuke leaned down quickly and pressed his lips against Naruto, shutting up the blonde for now.

It was the same kind of kiss that had happened yesterday. Just a light press. Although, yesterday, that had been enough to cause Naruto to go into a trance. But luckily, his anger stopped him from falling back into another haze caused from the kiss.

Besides, Sasuke couldn't just kiss him and expect him to suddenly become obedient (Naruto had a little more self-control than that). Also, Sasuke shouldn't be kissing him at all. Naruto had to admit, he wasn't ready for that kind of stuff yet. His feelings were just so new. He wasn't ready.

Naruto twisted his head, trying to tear Sasuke off of him. Luckily, it worked.

"What are you trying to do?" Naruto moved his arms, but Sasuke held them tightly. "This could be considered as rape!" Sasuke laid above him, unaffected by Naruto's shrieks. "Let go, teme!" Naruto managed to get an arm free, but it was quickly grabbed and held in a tighter grip.

"You didn't seem to mind, yesterday?" Naruto's face flushed at Sasuke's words because of two things. One, Sasuke was mentioning to yesterday's actions. Two, Naruto never imagined Sasuke would say something like that. Especially, to Naruto himself.

"Well, you surprised me yesterday. And the second kiss, I... wanted." Naruto said, whispering the last part and hoping that Sasuke wouldn't hear it. But, he did.

"So, why don't you want this right now?" Naruto's face turned to a darker hue of red.

"W-what kind of question is that?!" Naruto had stopped struggling, his attention stolen by their little argument.

"It's something I want to know." Sasuke said coolly to the annoyed figure beneath him.

"But you don't go around asking stuff like that!"

"Why don't you want this?" Naruto sent a glare toward the man, but it was ignored.

"I'm not gonna answer that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to." He turned his head away, refusing to look at the Uchiha who still wouldn't get off of him.

"Why not?"

"Because it's embarrassing. And don't ask me why." Naruto felt the questioning stare from Sasuke that was silently sending the annoying word, 'why'. "Damn it! Stop asking me."

"I didn't say anything."

"You know what you're doing. So stop it." Naruto looked up at him before shoving at the arms that propped Sasuke up. "You know, you could get off of me!"

"I will if you answer my question."

"What question?" Sasuke leaned down and whispered into his ear, the heat from his breath caused Naruto to freeze.

"The question that tells me why you don't want this."

"I'm not gonna answer that!" Naruto screeched when he recovered his voice. "I just don't want it! Okay?" Sasuke stared at Naruto, but he could tell that Sasuke was in deep thought rather than checking out his transformation. Finally, even if he wasn't actually 'seeing' Naruto, the staring was becoming creepy. "What?!"

"I know the answer."

"What?" Naruto's head hurt from all the confusion that Sasuke caused.

"Do you want romance?"

"What?" Sasuke slowly combed slowly through the transformation's hair. "Hey, stop." Naruto replied in a softer tone.

Suddenly, Sasuke's lips were on his again, but... it felt different. It was softer and had a deeper intensity to it. _Is this what he means by romance? Wait, he's trying to be romantic?_

Naruto quickly shook that idea out of his head. Sasuke couldn't be romantic. But the kiss _was_ somewhat different from before.

And maybe Naruto wanted to have some romance in the 'relationship'. Whoa. Naruto sounded almost like a girl. No, that couldn't happen. So Naruto didn't really want 'romance'.

But the romantic kisses were more sensual and sweet. _No! Damn it! Gotta stop thinking!_

Fortunately (mostly unfortunately), Naruto _did_ stop thinking, but Sasuke was causing the distraction. _Oh, god._

Naruto could feel Sasuke's tongue in his mouth! It felt... strange. But... nice. Naruto didn't know when he started, but he was kissing Sasuke back.

* * *

Sasuke had been softly kissing the girl. It had been a small success when she didn't push him away, but he had a feeling that her mind was elsewhere. 

Slowly, Sasuke deepened the kiss. He sucked one of her lips causing her to gasp. Inwardly, he smirked as he snaked his tongue into her mouth.

The girl stayed still causing Sasuke to frown. Was his plan not working?

But the question was silenced as the girl kissed him back. Although, it produced an unexpected reaction.

Sasuke slipped one of his hands behind the girl's head to bring her closer as the girl placed her hands around his neck. Suddenly, his heart rate quickened. Sasuke immediately concluded that he was running out of air.

Pulling back, Sasuke studied the girl for the moment, but the only thing he could focus on was her blue eyes. They were unique and mystifying yet familiar. _Strange._

Sasuke automatically pulled the girl back quickly, leaving him wondering why he did so. They played the game of dominance with their tongues, which he had won, but the girl moved her tongue back into his mouth, shyly exploring his mouth.

What was this he was feeling? It was unexpected. It didn't matter that the girl didn't disgust him, but he was feeling _desire_ and _want_. He needed to pull away, but his body wouldn't comply with his wishes to get away from the addicting kiss as he continued kissed the girl with an intense passion.

Finally, Sasuke mustered enough strength to remain unmoving. The girl continued her actions for a few more seconds but stopped when sensing that something was wrong. Reluctantly for both parts, she pulled away and sent him a confused look.

"We should go back." He told her.

* * *

"We should go back." Naruto looked strangely at Sasuke. He was feeling disappointed and... angry. 

"What?"

"You'll be late going back to work. Come on."

"Why do _you_ care?" Naruto wondered. He had been... enjoying the kiss and thought Sasuke was too by the way he had held him.

"Do you want to get in trouble?"

"I...," Sasuke got up and started walking, leaving Naruto to lay on the ground.

_What the hell happened?_ Naruto thought as he walked back. He could feel that Sasuke wasn't mad or that he didn't hate him, but he could feel that Sasuke's mind was far away from where they were now.

Sasuke didn't even stay for a while like he usually did. He left as soon as Naruto got inside of the bar.

_Did I do something wrong?_ Naruto worried but couldn't think of anything that he could have done to make Sasuke act this way. He watched Sasuke's figure slowly dissolve. _Strange._

But Naruto managed to walk away with a smile. Today was one of those exceptionally beautiful days that didn't happen to often.

But turns out, maybe he enjoyed it with the dipstick after all. _  
_

* * *

Sakura pressed her ear against the door and strained to hear to words being spoken. As soon as the scouting shinobi came, they were whisked away into the meeting room where no one else was allowed to come. Tsunade didn't say it was _that_ important so she would probably tell her and Shizune later. But Sakura was what you would call... impatient. 

She pushed her body as physically possible against the door. _Come on, people. Speak louder!_

Suddenly, the door went open. Sakura had felt the early vibrations and pushed against the door. She didn't end up falling face down in front of everybody, but you could bet her butt would have a pretty, little bruise on it later.

"H-hey, Lady Tsunade." She said nervously, hoping the easily angered Hokage wouldn't do anything to harm her in any way.

"Sakura...," Her voice led off, and Sakura winced, scared of the words that hadn't come out yet. "... I need your opinion on something."

"Oh?" Sakura popped her eyes open as soon as she heard that.

"Come in." The ninjas sent her respectful looks on the way in. Sakura remembered a time when they would send skeptical looks at her, wondering if a _child_ could handle the knowledge that they held. Boy, did she prove them wrong.

Immediately, a scout stood up and read off his report. They had searched the lands far and beyond to look for Sasuke.

Sakura nodded as she received the information. She stood up and gave them a simple solution that they had overlooked. They nodded and smiled as Tsunade dismissed them for a well-earned break.

Sakura walked down the hall, practically bouncing. She couldn't wait to tell Naruto the news. _He's going to be so happy._

First, she had to go tell Sai.

* * *

His location was in a different spot this time, but he couldn't lose Sasuke. He ran with expertise through the woods until he came upon a rock with a barrier. Raising his hand, Sasuke sent the right amount of chakra through it before ripping off the seal. Even though it didn't seem that complicated, but if the amount of chakra that you sent through it was the tiniest fraction from the right amount. The barrier would explode or do some other trick that Sasuke didn't care for at this moment. 

He quickly ran through to the center of the cave and stopped. Sasuke stood and waited for the voice to come.

"Sasuke. You're early. We planned to meet a few weeks later to discuss the girl as you continue your examination of her use of powers." Sasuke stood glaring at the darkness. "So, you must have important news if you're here. What is it? Did you grow attached?"

"I told you it wouldn't happen. And it didn't." Sasuke replied with an annoyed scowl on his face.

"Tell me what your news. I don't waste time." The figure said, cutting down to business.

"Be ready." Sasuke warned. "I'm bringing the girl next week."

The figure smirked at the younger Uchiha. He still didn't understand what he was doing. "Good. I'm tired of waiting." The plan was starting to set in motion.

* * *

A/N: I wonder if I should've ended it like that... Review. : P 


	10. Leaving

**Disclaimer: I do now own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

"Wait, what did you do!" Naruto shouted at his pink-haired friend.

"I knew you'd be excited!" Sakura smiled at him and watched for Naruto's next actions, acting like a child who was waiting for a parent's approval. "Isn't this great?" Naruto looked down and breathed deeply.

"Yeah, this is really... great."

"What's wrong?" Sakura looked worried at her best friend. He wasn't as happy as she thought he would be.

"Nothing. I'm really...," Naruto faked a smile at Sakura, although it didn't really help to comfort her. "... happy." 

"Oh, okay. Come on. Let's walk around the town instead of sitting in this ramen bar. You've already had a bowl of ramen to satisfy you. Now, let's go!" She smiled and then pulled Naruto off the chair before heading to Sai.

Sakura walked ahead of Naruto, wanting to reach their third companion quickly. Naruto dragged behind as he thought about what had happened. He had been eating a bowl of ramen when Sakura suddenly jumped him. She was practically shining with excitement when Naruto had saw her. Some of her happy attitude slipped into Naruto's mood, and he couldn't help but feel happy with her.

But then, she opened her mouth and told him the words that destroyed his happiness leaving shock as his new emotion. 

If she had told him what she told him now about a couple of months ago, he would be thrilled, but now, it was awful. They were going on a mission.

The details of the mission were that they were supposed to visit the sand village with the information that the Akatsuki was somewhere nearby. Naruto immediately understood what was going on in Sakura's mind.

Wherever there's Akatsuki, there's Itachi. And wherever there's Itachi, there's Sasuke.

Of course, Naruto wondered how a pack of supposedly high intelligence ninjas couldn't find Sasuke's location, which was _so_ close by, when Naruto had just mistakenly stumbled onto him. Sakura explained it to him unsuspectingly though. The scouting shinobi had been combing the lands far from the leaf. Looking every place possible, except close to home. Possibly following the trail of the Akatsuki members to find Sasuke.

It was time to end this. He couldn't let Sakura take him away from his already successful mission that was already taking place, but he still needed to be careful.

"Sakura, you're pretty excited." Sakura frowned and gave him a strange look.

"Aren't you? This is a mission! Remember how you were craving missions a while ago. Now, this isn't _only_ a mission. It's a mission about Sasuke! You should be even more excited than me." A smile reappeared onto her face. Apparently, not even Naruto's strange attitude could keep her down.

"Yeah. Well, what if I... uhh... knew... where Sasuke was?" Suddenly, her expression turned serious.

"You know where Sasuke is!" Sakura asked loudly as Naruto shook his head wildly to calm her down.

"I said 'if'. Only if, Sakura." Naruto felt relieved as her expression visibly relaxed. "So... uhh... what would you do?"

"That's easy. We would take him back."

"How?" Naruto asked the question he had been wondering all this time. 

"I don't know. Just take him."

"What if he didn't want to come back?"

"Naruto," She smiled at him. "... didn't you tell me once that you would break every bone in his body to get him back. Or that even if you lost your head, your arms, your eyes, and everything else, you would still bring him back. We'd bring him back, Naruto. Whether he likes it or not." Naruto smiled wistfully at Sakura's motivated words. If she had said that to him before, he would've agreed wholeheartedly. But now, it just confirmed what he had earlier feared. _Even if we force Sasuke back, it doesn't mean he will stay._

He couldn't go tell her. It would just ruin everything he planned. If he told her, she would tell everyone else, and Sasuke would be forced back. Sasuke would also discover Naruto's little secret, and Naruto didn't know how he would react. Sasuke_ would _find out eventually, Naruto knew that, but it would just be better if he found out later. Then, after that, Sasuke would or might leave._Everything is too complicated._

But could he refuse Sakura's offer? Naruto was smart, and he knew that she would try to find out why he would refuse the mission, which would lead to her discovery of Sasuke. And that would lead to his predictions that were explained earlier. Also, she would be pissed as hell if he said no after he missed Sai's birthday, constantly blew her off to go to the bar, and attempted to try not to 'rescue' Sasuke.

So those two options were out, leaving Naruto with one last option. He had to leave on the mission. Naruto's fist clenched at the thought, but he knew it was unavoidable. 

"Hey, Sakura. I have to get some things ready for this mission. So I'll meet you later?" 

"Okay, bye." Sakura watched as her blonde friend sped off before shrugging it off as enthusiasm. She paused for a moment before turning around and shouting. "Remember! About three hours before we leave!" Sakura turned back to her previous path, knowing that Naruto had heard her.

Meanwhile, Naruto ran to the gate but turned his head as he heard Sakura's message. 

"Aren't we going on a mission soon?" Sai asked when Naruto ran up to him.

"Yeah, I just have to do something before we leave." Sai nodded to him before Naruto left.

Naruto sped through the forest until he reached the bar. He walked in and immediately went to Kana. 

"Sobame? It's your day off. Why are you here?"

"My... family wants to take me on a vacation, and I can't say no." She nodded at his words, but he could tell she wasn't very happy about it.

"Oh, very well. How long will you be gone?"

"I'm guessing about two weeks. Three weeks at most."

"Three weeks!" Naruto forced on a smile as he tried to not anger his unhappy boss in any way.

"Two actually. I'm just saying that three weeks will be the longest I possibly might be out." Naruto talked to her a little longer, stating the facts but calming her down at the same time. He turned around to leave but saw Mina behind him.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah." He paused as an idea came to him. "Hey, can you deliver a message to someone for me?"

"Let me guess. _Him_?" Naruto nodded at the implication of Sasuke. She offered her small notebook and pen as Naruto scribbled something onto it. 

"Thanks. You're the best." Naruto sent her a smile. "Well, bye for two weeks."

"Okay." She smiled sadly at him. "Bye." After that, she left to serve the other customers that demanded her attention. Naruto walked out the door before looking back at the bar.

_I wish I could tell him goodbye. _Naruto thought before he ran off into the forest to return to Konoha and go onto a futile mission to find Sasuke.

"Bye...," He whispered to no one before he picked up his speed and arrived at the gate.

* * *

If Naruto had an extra hour before leaving, he could've probably stayed to see the next thing that happened. Sasuke walked through the door of the bar earlier than his usual timing. 

But he needed to get his information quickly. No more time would be wasted on the girl.

He sat in his usual spot and waited for the girl to come. It was about another ten minutes before he realized something important.

In his haste to gather information, he had forgotten today that the girl had a day off. Sasuke sat there for a few more minutes before his mind reminded him of that little fact.

Sasuke frowned. He was frustrated enough. He didn't need this.

Quickly, he got up and walked to the door as his mind thought about his next moves and his next plans. Out of nowhere, he felt a small tap on his shoulder.

Sasuke turned around and looked down at the girl behind him before sending a glare her way for touching him. It was the same waitress who had dared to have physical contact with him before, but now, she actually got a chance. 

"What?" He asked in annoyance.

"Oh, so you_ can _talk." Sasuke was about to leave when she suddenly lifted up a little piece of paper. "Sobame wanted me to give this to you."

Swiping it out of her hands, he gave the girl another glare as she glared back at him. Although, it wasn't as intimidating as the Uchiha's.

After she had walked away, Sasuke looked down at the paper, noting the messy handwriting, and read:

_Dear Sasuke,_

_I've been asked to go somewhere. So in other words, I'm taking a vacation. It's something I couldn't really say no to so I'm sorry. Whatever. I'm going to be gone for about two weeks. So you don't have to visit the bar and terrorize the waitresses/customers. You can start coming back around two weeks. Maybe a few days earlier, but it would be pointless because I wouldn't be here. Unless, you really do come here every single day to drink tea then you can come back. So... yeah._

_Bye._

_Sobame_

Crumpling up the small sheet of paper, Sasuke walked out angrily. This screwed up everything he was planning. 

Opening his palm, he felt a small satisfaction as he used his fire element to burn the paper into a small pile of ash.

Sasuke walked away as his mind planned a way around this little obstacle. This was wasting too much time. Itachi might eventually find out about his little deal if he didn't hurry.

In a blink of an eye, Sasuke vanished into darkness. His plans for the girl had changed.

* * *

Naruto changed into his fighting clothes and grabbed some other gear he would need on the mission. It would be a three-man pack going all the way to the Sand Village. The trip would usually take about three days, but now, it would be something along the lines of four days since they would spend some extra time scouting the area around them.

He ran through a checklist in his mind to see if he forgot anything. Searching for the items in his small pack, Naruto smiled when everything was there.

He walked out of his apartment and smiled at his two companions who stood waiting for him.

"Ready, Naruto?" Sai asked. Naruto nodded.

"Yup. How 'bout you guys?"

"Heh. We've been done for a _long_ time. You're the one holding us up." Sakura smirked at him causing Naruto to smile back sheepishly.

"Oh... Well, we should go now." 

"Okay." Sakura replied. They walked off toward the gate. Even though Naruto was leaving Sasuke behind, he couldn't help but feel some adrenaline rush through his veins. He hadn't been on a mission for months. It's not as if he liked missions more than Sasuke, but if Naruto had to go on this mission, he might as well look to the bright side. "You know the strategy?"

"Yeah." Naruto replied. "So we just head straight to the sand village as Sai's 'animals' scout the area around us for anything suspicious, right?"

"You got it!" They paused to look at their friend who was currently making ink-beings rise out of the scrolls. 

"You doing good, Sai?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, I'm almost done." They stood and waited until Sai stood up. "Done."

"Good. Let's go!" Naruto jumped out of the gate as the two behind him followed. 

The air whipped hazardously around his face and objects flew dangerously past him. His body felt some sort of weightlessness as he flew through the air before landing on a tree branch and jumping up again to feel the same flying motion. 

_I would've loved this. _Naruto thought. _But I'd rather be with Sasuke._

Hopefully, Sasuke had gotten his message. It wouldn't help Naruto to come back to an angry Sasuke. A smile appeared on his face as a new thought entered his mind. _At least he'll be waiting for me when I come back._

Suddenly, Naruto's speed increased as the urge to complete this mission increased also.

Sakura watched Naruto jump farther ahead of them. Even though she was excited before, Sakura had taken note of Naruto's weird behavior to her news. The question ran through her mind several times.

What was with Naruto and that bar?

As soon as they returned, Sakura was determined to find out. She turned her head to the side to look at Sai who was giving the same look toward Naruto. He must be thinking the same thing. 

For some reason, Sakura had a feeling that the answer would come after she returned to the village.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this is so short. I planned to add more but decided it would be better off in the next chapter. Review.


	11. Poisonous Battles

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

Sakura poked the campfire, making sure the flames didn't go out. Naruto sat beside her but turned his head to watch the little ink animals crawl over to Sai and dissolve onto sheets of paper. Words appeared as more animals came.

"So what'd they say?" Naruto asked as Sai picked up the scroll and read silently.

"They found nothing suspicious yet. I guess we should try again tomorrow. We'll stay here for the night." Sai announced.

"Okay. So what do we have to eat?" Naruto looked at Sakura who in return dug into her bag.

"Well, we have some food pills. Not that tasty, but they'll fill you up." Sakura looked up to see Naruto's questioning glance. "It's either this or starve. Pick."

"How 'bout neither? I brought some ramen." Naruto ran over to his bag and brought out three cups. "Want some, Sakura?" She smiled before nodding her head.

"I bet the day they invented ramen in a portable cup, you almost died of happiness overload."

"Yup." Naruto smiled.

"So how are we supposed to eat these? Dry?"

"No. There's a small river nearby. We'll use the water from there."

"You thought of everything, haven't you?" Sakura said as she spread out their sleeping bags.

"Uhh... no. We don't have any utensils."

"Not a problem. I'll make some." Sai volunteered as he grabbed his kunai and a clean log before carving out chopsticks for his teammates.

"Thanks, Sai. You're the best." Sai just gave him a small nod. Naruto gathered the cups of ramen and cradled it into his arm. He took a long, wooden stick by a tree and stuck it into the fire and took it out as soon as it conducted a small flame. "I'll be back quick."

"Okay. Be careful." Sakura warned gently.

"Don't worry." Naruto replied before running to the stream, being careful to keep the flame going and to keep the cups in his hand. As soon as he reached the riverbank, he dumped the cups onto the rock before creating a shadow clone. The shadow clone began opening the cups and pouring in the powder. Naruto stood over the water and manipulated the air around him to make the flame grow bigger to heat the water. Soon, he began to feel himself growing bored when he realized he had to watch the water boil.

When the stick was almost gone, Naruto threw the large flame into the air and used his wind element to make the flame grow bigger, trying to rid himself of his boredom. Naruto smiled as the flame grew into a giant ball that could consume more than ten humans. A shadow flickered in his peripheral vision. Naruto turned his head toward the shadow shaped like a body, but it jumped away to another tree and disappeared too fast for Naruto to actual conclude it as anything but his imagination.

"Did you see that?" He asked his clone. The clone shook his head.

"Nope. It was probably an animal. Concentrate on the ramen!" The clone began to scoop the hot water into the cups. "I'm so hungry."

"You're not eating. I am." Naruto stated.

"What? You bastard!" Naruto sighed as he took back the chakra he had used to create the shadow clone causing the clone to disappear.

_This is why I don't like talking to myself. _Naruto thought as he picked up the cups.

He turned back toward the dark forest. _Is somebody watching me?_ Naruto walked away when he just passed it off as his mind playing tricks on him.

* * *

It was the third day that they were away from civilization. They were probably only a few miles away from the Sand Village, but they were spending their time searching the area for any clues of Akatsuki activity. Not a single detail of the landscape passed them, but none of those details had anything the related to Akatsuki. Naruto looked over at his team. They were tired and obviously wanted to get to the sand village, but their duty denied them of that ability. He looked up at the land they haven't searched yet. Skipping them for one night wouldn't hurt, would it?

"Why don't we go to the Sand Village now?"

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"We've been searching for three days straight now. We're all exhausted, which won't help us, if we encounter any enemies. We only have a few miles left. It would be better if we regain our strength tonight and search the rest of the land tomorrow. It's not that much. Then, we can investigate the little land that we have left in the morning. Does that sound good?" Naruto watched as Sai and Sakura stared at each other, having a mental debate.

"Fine." Sai answered. Naruto smiled. His ramen supply was running out, and he didn't want to eat those tasteless tablets when he could be eating hot, steamy ramen. That would be so much better.

"Okay, let's go. Now, what direction is the village?" Sakura looked at the landscape around them before pointing west.

"About three miles that way. Come on. Whoever's the last one there has to pay for the room we're staying at tonight." They all smiled at each other before all them suddenly ran off at top speed. So far, Naruto was in the lead and grinning his little head off at being victorious.

His little victory dance in his mind ended when a black shadow ran right in front of him. The thing and him didn't collide, but it caused him to skid to an abrupt stop.

"Who the hell is there?" Naruto shouted, his hand fisted around the weapons in his pouch. Sakura and Sai stopped to look oddly at him.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

"Didn't you see it? That thing ran right in front of me." Sakura jumped down and stood by Naruto as Sai quickly searched the area. Sakura pressed her hand to Naruto's forehead and took down mental notes about Naruto's status.

"Nothing seems to be wrong." She concluded.

"No one else is around here. Is he under genjutsu?" Sai jumped down to stand beside the group.

"I can't sense anything." Sakura frowned before smiling. "Hey, is this some trick to distract us so you'd win?" Naruto scowled at the two.

"This isn't some damn joke. I saw something. If I'm not under genjutsu, then what the hell did I see?" Naruto shouted.

"Maybe it's just fatigue." Sakura suggested. "Why don't we just go to the sand village and have you rest?" Naruto looked wildly around him again before nodding and heading off with them to the village. The experience today somehow reminded him of when he had been in the forest with his clone. Even a perfect clone of himself had doubted Naruto. What was going on?

Soon, they arrived at the village.

They had luckily booked a night at a hot spring hotel. Naruto was the first one to visit the hot springs. Naruto sighed as his tired muscles sunk deeper into the steaming water. Sai and Sakura decided to look around the village for any clue to where Akatsuki's location could be. He was going to search, too but right after this soothing bath. Besides, Naruto knew the person he could get direct information from.

* * *

His desk was clustered with documents that demanded his attention. His nimble fingers picked up a sheet of information before his eyes scanned the words on the paper before grabbing his pen and writing down his approval. He placed the finished sheet in a bin before looking at the pile still resting on his desk. If he continued to work like this, the paperwork would be finished in about an hour or so. Luckily, there were no distractions present.

"Gaara!" The sudden screech was followed by his door being slammed open. Gaara's light green eyes landed on his blonde visitor.

"Naruto! He's the Kamikaze! You can't just burst into his office!" The pink-haired girl ran up to Naruto before turning toward Gaara and bowing down in an apologetic way. "I'm sorry. Naruto's just too excited." He watched as their black-haired friend followed behind.

"You are here for the investigation, are you not?" Gaara asked, getting down to business.

"Uhh... yeah," Naruto agreed. Gaara quickly searched with his eyes through the papers on his desk. His desk wasn't littered with papers that he couldn't find anything in it, but it wasn't too organized either. Gaara lost the use of organizing papers into neat stacks when his assistants would just dump stacks of paper, not caring where it landed as long as the heavy weight was gone, onto his desk causing it to become unorganized once again. Finding it, Gaara plucked it off his desk and handed it over to the team.

"I suggest you head out tomorrow. One more thing...," He waited until the team was done reading the words off the paper before looking at him. "I already had the area scouted." He watched as a scowl appeared on Naruto's face.

"Then, what's the point of bringing us here?" Gaara felt a twinge of surprise before answering the blonde. Wasn't he the first one to usually jump at the name of his friend?

"I would not allow an area with a threat stay unknown if the people of this village could get access to it. You merely came before I could tell you." That shut the blonde up.

"So...," He turned to face his teammates. "... do we stay or leave?"

"I'd think it'd be better if you'd stayed. My scouts didn't put as much effort into the search as I would expect you would. You might find something they missed." Gaara returned to his paperwork, silently dismissing the team. They placed the sheet on his desk before turning to leave. "Uzumaki, you stay." Naruto froze before looking at Gaara and then, at his teammates.

"We'll be back at the hotel." Sai whispered to Naruto before Sakura and him left. Naruto turned back to the Kamikaze.

"You want something, Gaara?" Naruto asked, knowing that the Kamikaze wouldn't be bothered by his direct address. Gaara wasn't the person who would be bothered by the lack of titles.

"I haven't heard any news of you becoming Hokage." Naruto's casual stance turned serious when he heard the statement.

"Well, that's because I'm not." Naruto stated. Gaara continued to stay silent while sending Naruto a look that stood for 'Why?'. Naruto frowned as a new thought entered his mind. He had been spending too much time with Sasuke. Now, Naruto could understand the smallest subtle movement that Gaara had made. "I have to do something first."

"Would this something be related to the Uchiha?" Naruto was unhesitant to answer.

"Yeah. Being Hokage is my dream, but I can't be Hokage if I can't help my friends, can I?" Naruto asked, unexpectedly walking into Gaara's trap.

"So helping your friends is important? You don't seem too happy to be here."

"What? Of course, I'm happy! I'm excited to be here, damn it!" Naruto replied loudly. Gaara studied Naruto for a moment before answering.

"You know something, Uzumaki. You also don't want to be here, but you are." Naruto gulped. Was he that obvious or was Gaara too observant for his own damn good? Naruto paused as he contemplated what to say next.

"So?" Well, it wasn't a really well thought out response, but it worked.

"I will tell your teammates that I sent you back to your village. Is that something you want, Uzumaki?" Naruto stared at Gaara before a grin broke out on his face.

"Yeah! That's great!" He looked down and offered Gaara one of his biggest smiles. "You're the best."

Naruto left the office a happier than when he entered. Although, he wasn't sure how his teammates would react.

* * *

"You're going back?!" Customers in the hallways stopped as they heard the shrill shriek while Naruto stood in the room with the real danger.

"It's not my fault! Gaara wants to send me back!"

"Why would he do that?!" Sakura screamed. Sai faded into the wall as he tried not to take the attention of Sakura's anger away from Naruto.

"Something about unnecessary third party. He said he already searched the area so we're just like a small back up search. Since there's not anything _that_ dangerous out there, he didn't think he needed that much leaf ninjas in his village." Sakura paused to massage her head as she felt a small migraine coming on. Naruto opened his mouth as words of comfort immediately jumped out. "I can help you search the remaining area, and then, I'll leave as you guys search beyond the village." Sakura nodded.

"Fine." With that, they headed off.

* * *

Naruto sat on a rock centered in a very large pond. When they came to the outside of the village, they decided it would be better if they split up, making the search much faster. After searching his whole sector, Naruto discovered a small oasis. He was suspicious of the vibrant green and blue against the dusty, brown sand but then decided to kick back and relax. He went through his small pack and checked to see if everything was there. He smiled as he picked up the clothes he had bought in the town. Naruto had decided as soon as Gaara guaranteed to free him. Naruto was going to visit the bar first.

He bought some clothes that he could change into so he wouldn't be in his fighting outfit. Naruto decided that he would hide his pack and his other things in a hollow tree along the way there.

Right now, Naruto decided it was some time to relax considering that Sai and Sakura probably wouldn't be done scouting their area for a while.

"Naruto!" He bolted up as he heard Sakura's loud shriek. Naruto quickly grabbed a kunai just in case and turned around. Sakura stood behind him with a silent Sai as a shadowed figure stood standing visibly before them. Naruto could see the outline around the figure but couldn't distinguish any specific features. It was as if it were a living shadow. "Is this what you were talking about a few days ago?" She asked loudly. Naruto looked at all of them strangely. Why didn't he hear them come?

"Yeah," Naruto answered as he ran up to stand beside them. "When did you guys get here?" He asked when the figure remained moving. She opened her mouth to reply when the figure started running toward them. They all dodged the attack as Sai quickly grabbed opened his scrolls. The figure ran towards Sai to stop him when Sakura pounded the water with her fist, to divert its attention, hitting all the way to the bottom and creating cracks in the hard rock. The water sprayed Naruto's eyes as he avoided the moving rocks. He opened them quickly as he tried to find the enemy. The black figure was laying on the shore. Naruto turned to smile at Sakura.

"Good jo-" His voice caught in his throat as he saw a second shadow figure behind Sakura. "Watch out!" He yelled, but it was too late as a jagged spike was thrown toward Sakura's neck. She immediately fell down. Naruto looked down at her. She couldn't have died that easily. Unless... was it poison? Naruto was suddenly brought back to reality as he heard lion roars. Black lions jumped up from behind him and aimed for the shadow with Sai immediately following them. The shadow quickly slashed the lions, creating an explosion of ink that momentarily blinded him. Sai ran through the ink-cloud and slit what would have been the shadow's throat if he had any. The figure fell onto the ground as Sai ran over to Sakura when he suddenly fell onto his knees, a painful groan erupting from his throat. What was going on? Naruto watched in shock as the ink that covered Sai's entire body acted like acid and melted his skin. "Sai!" Naruto tried to move his body but found himself paralyzed. He looked down and saw the shadow's hand holding him down.

"How can you protect him if you can't protect yourself?" Naruto for some reason felt the figure was implying Sasuke.

"Heh." Naruto turned around and smirked at the being, catching it off guard. "Nice trick." The figure's mental image faded slightly when Naruto withdrew his chakra but remained solid. "Your genjutsu's pretty strong then."

"When did you figure it out?"

"Sakura and Sai would never die so easily." Naruto stated. "Was it you who was playing tricks on my mind all along?" The shadow figure remained quiet in a silent yes.

"You're not strong enough to provide protection."

"Naruto!" The shadow figure and Naruto turned toward the sky as the voice seemed to have come from outside of the genjutsu. Suddenly, Naruto was able to take control of the situation and shove the mental shadow off of him.

"He doesn't need my protection!"

"_He_ is not the one who requires it." The deep voice faded away as Naruto felt his chakra being scattered. When Naruto opened his eyes, he was in the oasis still sitting on the rock. His pack laid next to him as his eyes skimmed the area around him wildly, noticing that it wasn't destroyed.

"Naruto," He looked up to see Sakura's concerned eyes. "Are you okay? You were placed under genjutsu." Naruto nodded quickly as he saw Sai's body flicker in between the shrubbery surrounding the oasis.

"What's he doing?"

"He's searching for the enemy who placed the genjutsu on you. The enemy probably couldn't have gotten far." Naruto stood up as Sakura carefully balanced him with her arm.

"You can tell him to stop. The enemy's gone." Naruto said, instinctingly knowing that the shadow figure had wanted to send him the threat before leaving.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Just trust me." Naruto comforted Sakura. "I think we're done scouting the area. I should return to our village." Sakura's comforted feelings were broken as she went into another hysterical mood.

"Are you crazy?! You were just attacked by an enemy. If we haven't arrived, who knows what would've happened to you?"

"Sakura! Sakura! I told you to trust me! Don't worry! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm going to be the Hokage for the Hidden Leaf Village, and I'm not going to let some damn genjutsu ninja get in my fucking way! Understand? I'm okay on my own!" In truth, Sakura knew that Naruto was going to be fine, but some feeling, a premonition like feeling, let her know that Naruto was going to be in trouble as soon as he left. Was it because she suddenly grown a psychic ability or was she thinking that Naruto would return to that _bar_ that caused all these changes in him? Whatever it was, Sakura was just worried.

"Okay." She said uncertainly.

"It's okay, Sakura! When you come back, I'll be the first one to greet you!" Naruto imitated her boyfriend and gave her the good guy pose, which caused her to laugh.

"Fine, but be careful." Naruto nodded.

"Shouldn't you stay at the sand village a little longer to regain your strength?" Sai asked as he arrived back just to hear that clip of the conversation.

"No, I'll be fine." Naruto grabbed his pack and gathered all his belongings before standing up and smiling. "Bye."

"Wait-" Naruto ran off before Sakura could finish her sentence. She looked at Sai. "Do you feel the same thing I'm feeling?"

"Like, Naruto's going to be in trouble?"

"Yeah."

"Naruto's tough, though. We know he can handle himself." Sakura nodded before the two returned to the village.

* * *

Naruto transformed about a few hundred yards out of the town's perimeter. He had been traveling for almost three days. Naruto cleaned himself up in the town he saw a few hours back. He walked out slowly, hoping no one noticed that he had just crawled out of a bush, before heading straight to the bar.

"You're back? So soon?" Kana asked. Naruto gave her a smile before explaining.

"The vacation ended early." They went straight down to business and negotiated about when he would come back to work. He couldn't come back today, but he could start two days later after Kana got some things straightened. Naruto exited the door to run into a stiff figure. He looked up to see Sasuke.

"Hey!" Naruto said excitedly, feeling relieved for some reason. "You're here. I thought you wouldn't be back until two weeks. It's been, what? One... week." Naruto's voice traced off as Sasuke gave him a strange look. Naruto looked down at himself. He was wearing a black t-shirt probably three times his transformation's size and baggy orange shorts. Probably a little bit on the tomboy side but Naruto never expected Sasuke to be into woman with skimpy clothing. "Are you okay?" Wordlessly, Sasuke turned and walked to the edge of the village. Naruto followed.

Was Sasuke mad because Naruto left? Naruto didn't think Sasuke would be angry at petty little things like that. As soon as they reached the perimeter of the town, Naruto turned toward Sasuke.

"What's wrong? Are you mad 'cuz I left? I-" Suddenly, Sasuke grabbed the back of Naruto's head and roughly shoved something into Naruto's face. His hand pushing the piece of cloth into Naruto's mouth causing Naruto to gag on the piece of cloth. Quickly reacting to the attack, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm and twisted it, hurting Sasuke enough to make him let go. His leg went up to kick Sasuke in the stomach so he would lose his balance, but instead, his leg went right through him. _Fuck. Another genjutsu?_

Naruto stood still and ignored the events happening in the illusion until he felt a small impact. He opened his eyes to see that he was on the ground. Sasuke was on his side, pricking his arm with a small needle. He tried to move his body, but it wasn't listening to him.

"Don't try it." Sasuke said as he pulled the needle out of Naruto's arm. "The cloth had toxins in them that's flowing through your body. I inserted some of my chakra so I can control the toxins. I can turn them on or off if I want. They suck away your energy so you can't fight. Right now, they're on." Naruto's face moved into a scowl. Suddenly, Naruto twisted his body and punched Sasuke in the face. Sasuke's earlier statement somehow added to the satisfied emotion that Naruto felt when he saw some blood at the corner of Sasuke's mouth. Granted, he could probably have done worse, but the toxins were sucking away his strength. Naruto felt his body suddenly becoming tired. Sakura had taught Sai and him some medical knowledge that they could use on the battlefield so he knew what was happening. The sudden burst of energy wiped out the little energy he had left to fight the toxins. His body was now trying to regenerate some.

"Teme...," Naruto called before he blacked out.

Sasuke stood up and wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth and acted as if nothing had happened as he picked up the girl's body and flung it over his shoulder. He walked a little further outside of the town before using the teleportation jutsu. Sasuke was tired of wasting time.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know. It took me forever to post up this little chapter. But guess what? I came up with something to make it up to all of you. Go onto my profile and check it out. Hint: It's called Itonami.


	12. Ignorant of the Obvious

A/N: I faced some problems while typing this chapter. One, my school decided to be 'unique' and have spring break a week after everyone else. My parents thought it'd be fun to take us on a road trip which meant I'd be away from my beloved computer. Luckily, I was saved when I found out that my laptop was fixed (the recharger was back). So I could bring it and type. Unfortunately, the driving part was kind of a hard place to type in considering all the headaches you would get after being stuck in a car for six hours straight. When we got there, I had some family visits. When there was nothing to do, I decided I should type out the chapter but this one was a little hard to write and the parents decided to leave behind the children for me to watch (they left them behind every time I had some free time). So it was hard typing this already tough chapter to type while keeping an eye on the kids. It was me and my brother against five hyper children. Well, I survived long enough to put up this chapter.

Another thing before you start this chapter, I'm really sorry for making you guys wait so long and then just putting up a short chapter. But now, I have my laptop back (insert whoop here) so you can expect faster updates with hopefully longer chapters!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

Naruto felt... scared. Not the I'm-going-to-die kind of fear. It was the kind of fear he felt when he saw the look on Sasuke's face as he saw Naruto in his true form. He felt as if a hand was squeezing his heart to a tight pulp as he lost the ability to breathe. The fear moved through Naruto's body, entering the fox's chakra. The red chakra spread out into his veins, evading the toxin's senses, and held the form that Naruto wanted as he continued to dream about the fear of Sasuke finding out about his little secret.

* * *

"Go search for any information about the boy I might need to know."

"Why do you need to know more? He's bringing the boy today." The figure who was clearly the master leading his subordinates turned his cold glare toward the man, who remained unfazed, before him.

"You surely don't believe Sasuke would give up the boy that easily. Even he is not that foolish." The man nodded before leaving with his partner.

* * *

Sasuke appeared in front of the cave and deactivated the new complex barrier out in front. He ran through the cave until he reached the usual spot. After placing the girl's body softly onto the damp cave rock. He looked up and glared, waiting impatiently for the man to come.

"Sasuke."

"I brought the girl." Silence filtered into the air as the figure assessed the girl from afar. "What do you think? Good enough for your standards?"

"I... suppose it's good enough. They both have... similar qualities." Sasuke frowned at the sentence, sensing a double meaning.

"You remember our deal."

"Yes. First, I want the girl." There was a flurry of movements that would've been missed in a blink of an eye. The figure flew down to the girl, but Sasuke quickly blocked the attack and threw him off a few meters off. They stood with eyes contacting and their body in battle stance.

"I want to see him dead first!" The man stood up and looked at Sasuke.

"Tell me, Uchiha. How do I know you won't back out of our little deal? We know you're planning something. To let you know, we have something planned if you try to defy us." Sasuke scowled at the figure.

"You're probably the ones who would betray our deal before me!"

"Our word is true. You just have to keep up your side, and I will keep up mine."

"Hn." Sasuke retorted.

"So, will I have the girl or no? That is our deal."

"You have to fulfill your side of the deal before I agree."

"Very well." The figure's 'henchman' dragged out the crippled body of Itachi, apparently they'd been keeping him prisoner for a while now. Sasuke watched as the clear leader of the group went over and commenced the murder scene. Sasuke managed to show a disgusted grimace at the display of gore. "I have to say... it is a big disappointment to see you achieve his death this way. I presumed you would take the matter into your own hands."

"I plan to," He announced before glaring at the figure in front of him. "Your genjutsu doesn't fool me one bit." Sasuke watched as his surroundings shivered slightly before going back to normal. The men and Itachi's corpse were gone.

"Your eyes are sharp," The figure stood to his full height and looked directly into Sasuke's blood-red eyes. "But not sharp enough."

"Who says I was part of a genjutsu, little brother?" Sasuke remained emotionless as he felt Itachi's body behind him, Itachi's finger placed dangerously above a vein on Sasuke's neck. Then, Itachi's grip loosened. "I should've known you would've brought your useless team along." Itachi stated before he turned around and glared at the man who dared to hold the kunai to his neck. Sasuke took advantage of the situation and moved his body to shove Itachi against the wall. Itachi dodged the attack and jumped away.

"So, Sasuke." His head leaned back slightly at Karin's voice. "Who's this girl?" She asked as she looked at the unconscious girl on the ground with annoyance before turning back toward the leader of the group.

"Geeze, Sasuke," Suigetsu boredly called, acting nonchalant despite the seriousness of the situation. "When you placed that summoning jutsu on us, you should at least warn us before you're going to call us."

"He _did_, you idiot," Karin replied getting ticked off. "You didn't pay attention."

"Shut up, you-"

"You both should pay attention." The two turned turned Juugo, surprised that they were reprimanded by the usually silent member, before looking at their leader.

"Yeah, Sasuke. Who's the girl?" Suigetsu pointed a finger toward the earlier questioned figure.

"Protect her," Those were the only words he gave to the question before he pulled out his sword and faced Itachi before turning toward the earlier figure, also releasing the chakra that controlled the toxin's in the girl's body. "Pein, so is this what you call your 'true' words?" The red-head turned his cold eyes on the younger Uchiha before calmly replying.

"This is. You didn't keep your side of the bargain." Sasuke scowled at the pair before the three other members of the Akatsuki showed up.

Karin and Suigetsu walked over to the girl and studied her for the moment being.

"So who do you think she is?" Suigetsu bent down to get a closer look.

"Probably no one important." Karin gave another annoyed look at the girl.

"I don't know. Sasuke feels strongly about her protection," Suigetsu baited. It was too easy to get the girl angry.

"Then, she's probably another _object_ that will help Sasuke in his ambition."

"I'm still not sure. She's pretty hot." Suigetsu flashed his sharp teeth at the fiery, red-head who looked like she was ready to kill.

"Stop it. We're supposed to be paying attention to the battle, not commenting on looks." Karin glared at him, warning him to stop.

"Yeah, we should. Besides, this is getting fun." Suigetsu's smile became larger as he eyed the large sword weld by Kisame. "You protect the girl. I'll be right back."

"No, you wait-" Suigetsu ran off before she could finish her sentence. Karin sighed before turning her gaze toward the girl. She wasn't... _that_ special-looking. Was she?

Karin shook her thoughts out as she focused on the task at hand. How would her unfocused attitude look to Sasuke? Not good. A small groan put her senses on alert, but when she turned her head, it was just the girl. It appears that she's finally waking up.

Sasuke's eyes scanned the five Akatsuki members, deciding the odds. He heard about Pein's special ability, about the single man somehow evolving into a six-man squad, and his eyes that were even more powerful than the sharingan. His eye moved over to Itachi, the one he wanted to kill. If it were a fight between Itachi and himself, it would probably between the abilities of their ninjutsus or mental attacks, ranging from close combat to far-ranged dives. Then, Kisame was the next person to deal with. Suigetsu would probably take care of that problem. He's been dying to get his sword. Next would be the vegetable-man, Zetsu. Juugo could probably take him. The last was that Konan girl. Sasuke's mind ran through all the possible scenarios. Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Juugo probably won't be able to kill all of them, but they'll still manage themselves out of this problem alive.

"Karin, take the girl out of here."

Karin looked at the battle scene and decided whether she should ignore his direct orders and join the fight or leave. Narrowing her lips, Karin complied with Sasuke's wishes.

She gently looped her arm around the girl and quickly performed the teleportation jutsu. The distinct feeling of floating came as the ground disappeared beneath her feet before reappearing again. She took them out some miles away from the starting point and placed the girl on a piece of flat rock. Before turning back to study the girl, she tilted her head slightly when she discovered something. The girl had been conscious for a while now. Karin studied her a little more before getting her own conclusion. Sasuke had finally used the special toxin's that they had made on the girl. She was probably paralyzed from head to toe but that didn't mean she couldn't understand what was going on before.

By the looks of it, the girl was probably going to be really angry when she woke up.

* * *

Karin continued to watch the girl suspiciously. The girl was doing nothing but sitting in deep thought after waking up. Although her face remained emotionless, her eyes told the tale. That was obviously her weakness, the curse that showed her emotions in those eyes. Anger was a huge dominance in the girl's eyes, but other than that, her body language was an empty of any clues.

Karin chose to stand back and not talk to the girl, not feeling the need to. She might act like some of their previous captives and become hysterical, and Karin did not want to deal with another one of those. It was some amount of luck that the girl didn't attack her with her questions of her confusion. She didn't want to push it.

So other than studying the girl's emotion, nothing interesting came up. A couple of explosions from miles away came to their ears, but that was the only amusing or interesting thing that came.

Karin started kicking a piece of rock after another period of boredom. She wasn't really all that worried for Sasuke and the other boys. If things go as planned, they'd probably take out two or three members of the Akatsuki.

A few more explosions boomed through the air. The only thing that alarmed Karin was the fact that her feet was feeling the aftershocks from the battle. _It's almost over._

True to her prediction, Sasuke and the rest of the Hebi group showed up a little later. All of them had injuries with them but nothing too fatal.

"How'd the-" Karin watched with some surprise as the emotionless girl sprinted over with surprising speed and punched Sasuke with a huge amount of strength unexpected to come from a girl like her.

* * *

Naruto had only been unconscious for probably a minute. For some reason, his transformation held. Maybe that was another improvement he had developed in his technique. With that aside, Naruto had been listening to conversations held between Sasuke and the Akatsuki. If he could, his hand would've tightened into a fist.

_So... Sasuke wanted to trade me for his brother? _Naruto's mind automatically jumped to the times before that he had with Sasuke. _Was... that all fake?_ It didn't seem that way to Naruto, but maybe Sasuke was an even better actor than Naruto had previously thought.

Naruto crumpled at the thought of Sasuke betraying him and faking everything before. Naruto even lost the annoyance of being observed by the rest of Sasuke's group. He wanted to open his eyes to see everything fully instead of depending on his hearing, but he couldn't move them at all. Suddenly, anger blazed inside of him. Naruto tried with great force to move his arms, legs, and other limbs. Naruto fought the toxins. Then, he felt them weaken instantly until their power over him became nonexistent. He felt dizzy for a moment and groaned out from his pulsing headache.

In the midst of him fighting against his drowsiness, he felt someone pull him up. Naruto was about to push the questioning person away when his body felt a sort of weightlessness. When it was over, the voices and sounds were gone. Naruto opened his eyes to see he was in a rocky terrain. _Where's Sasuke?_

An explosion sounded through the rocky area. Naruto turned his head toward the source of the sound. Naruto wanted to run toward it, but he knew that the girl behind would probably try to fight him and make him stay. His body was still feeling the after effects of the toxins so it'd probably take most of his strength to reach the fighting point, but how much energy would it take to fight that girl _and_ get to the fighting point?

Good thing Naruto's chivalrous side showed up or the girl would probably be on the floor rolling in pain. Or maybe his 'chivalry' was something Naruto just used to convince himself that it'd be better to stay then go back and face... The thought was killed before it was even brought into view.

_Heh, I'm not going to hit a girl. _Naruto thought after he made his decision to stay.

He sat there and used all of his senses to guess what was going on. He placed his hands on the ground and sent chakra through it to create a radar, a technique he learned from Yamato. Naruto felt the vibrations from the fight, but he had to guess who was who. Finally, the vibrations ended, and Naruto knew the fight was over. Hopefully, Sasuke and his other teammates would be the ones who came back.

Naruto waited and felt the vibrations becoming stronger and closer to him. Naruto looked up and saw Sasuke. The anger spiked up, but what really blew Naruto up was when Sasuke looked him straight at him, into his eyes, and remained unemotional. No guilt, not anything.

"How'd the-" Naruto charged at Sasuke and hit him with the force that he had been saving up. Maybe it was because he was pissed as hell for Sasuke doing this to him. Or maybe it was because he wanted some emotion on Sasuke. He wanted Sasuke to at least look at him with something after what he did. Naruto thought that Sasuke had shown his emotions before, but was it all a lie?

The rest of the group around him watched like statues at his power before looking toward their leader. Naruto felt the toxin's pushing down his power again. His body fell to its knees, and he scowled at Sasuke for being the one to use the poison on him.

"You fucking bastard," Naruto cursed. His body fell down, and his face was facing Sasuke, who had just gotten up and continued to look at him blankly. "You planned this all along, didn't you?" Naruto continued to shout even though he felt his body weakening. "Was it all fake? Was it?" Sasuke walked over to Naruto and bent down to place a finger to Naruto's shoulder, increasing the toxin's power. Naruto looked up with tired eyes and whispered his last thought. "Why did you betray me?" Some emotion flashed in Sasuke's eyes, but Naruto was already unconscious to even notice it.

_Damn him._ Naruto thought before he drifted to the blissful land where no harmful thoughts could touch him.

Queasy silence filled the rocky region before it was sliced through by a sarcastic comment. "Nice choice in women, Sasuke."

"Shut up, Suigetsu. He's not interested in her like that," Karin shouted, unknowing an ally of Suigetsu for breaking the tension of the atmosphere.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"Because I can see her fucking chakra! She has... a lot of potential for many disasters so that's what the Akatsuki were probably after."

"Damn, Sasuke," Suigetsu switched his view toward the quiet figure. "You planned on handing over that powerful little thing to the Akatsuki? Those idiots would probably blow up the whole damn world!"

"He wasn't planning to! That's why he called us," Karin yelled, quickly jumping to defend the Uchiha.

"So if he wasn't planning to give up the girl, why would he have her at all then?" Suigetsu smirked when Karin's flushed red with anger after he suggested a romantic figure in Sasuke's life.

"To trick the Akatsuki, idiot. Isn't it obvious?" Their bickering voices started shouting obscenities back and forth. Sasuke watched with no amusement before carelessly brushing pass them causing them to switch their attention toward him as he paced over to the girl. Slipping his hands softly under the light body, Sasuke picked up the girl with all three pair of eyes noticing the unusual tenderness. Glancing in their direction, Sasuke strolled over before turning his head to face the dysfunctional group.

"We're leaving." They all nodded quickly. Juugo trailed after Sasuke as the two annoyed beings stood watching the retreating backs of the group.

"So... you still think that nothing's going on between them?" Karin's quiet pose quickly dissipated as she told of promised gore to come with her eyes toward the man before her.

"Yes! Sasuke's just being a gentleman unlike you!" She humphed before walking away. Suigetsu shook at his head at her choice to walk down the ignorant path instead of realizing what she saw with her own eyes.

"All of us knows he likes her, idiot. Isn't it obvious?" He whispered in a slightly mocking tone with a smirk as he watched the woman walk away before turning his eyes toward the other figure who chose to remain clueless.

* * *

Naruto quickly rose from his unconscious state after the toxin's effects were lifted. His arms stretched across the soft bed. Naruto's body shot off the bed at the feel of a new surround. Unfortunately, it caused a dizzy spell to set on Naruto. His hand immediately grabbed the side of his head as if it would stop the pain. Squeezing his eyes shut, Naruto waited until the headache that followed his dizziness to dim down its pain levels before opening his eyes.

He was in a room obviously. Naruto twisted his head to take in the other objects of his surroundings. A second after questioning why he was in this hotel room, memories of earlier events zapped back into Naruto's mind. The only physical sign of any difference in Naruto was the poor, crumpled sheets being fisted into Naruto's tight grip. His mind instantly jumped into action as Naruto began to assess-

"Hey! The girl's up!" His assessment was interrupted. Naruto looked up to see the rather large man in front of him. Naruto raked his mind for a name before finally remembering it. Suigetsu, Naruto remembered him from some experiences that he had encountered with the man that ended with not so... pleasant results. The rest of the team came in causing recognition to flash in his eyes before disappearing. All those years before hadn't been wasted. Of course, the leaf shinobi _had_ gathered some information on them, but Naruto couldn't let them know that. He was going to have to play the role of an unaware girl. Again. "You okay?" Naruto turned toward Suigetsu before nodding. He waited for their leader to come in. For some reason, it was taking him quite a long time to see Naruto.

"Where's Sasuke?" He asked quietly, trying to put on an emotionless façade.

"Oh," A smirk appeared on the man's face causing a sense of foreboding to crawl into Naruto's mind. "He's gone. So you're stuck with us for now."

Naruto sensed a warning coming from his words. He looked around the room at the members of the group and, based on his earlier hearings of their conversations, felt fear closely related to that of a babysitter facing three evil children.

_Oh, god._ Naruto thought, forgetting his earlier memories that he needed to think about. But right now, Naruto welcomed the distraction.


	13. Forgiving Friendship

A/N: I planned to have more length, but I spent three days typing something else. I realized that it was harder to go the way I was going, but I was relunctant to delete three days worth of typing. But, finally, I deleted it and went a new way, and it was so much easier. And thanks to my laptop which is finally back in my arms, it was much faster, too. So cheers for that.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.**

* * *

**Innocent Illusions**

* * *

"What the hell happened?" Naruto questioned as he rebandaged Suigetsu's arm. His eyes focused on the crude stitches stretching across his arm to his chest and among other places. The injuries were pretty gruesome. Imagine Naruto's surprise when had woken up exactly at the time they needed to change their bandages. Imagine his joy. Naruto pulled the cloth strip back tightly causing the man in front of him to wince. "Sorry." Suigetsu sent him an annoyed look which was wiped off when Naruto stretched the cloth tightly against his skin again.

"We faced Akatsuki. What do you expect?" Suigetsu answered, choosing not to anger the woman since she had the power to physically harm him.

"You never told how the battle went, anyways."

"Why the hell should I tell you?" Naruto slowly and deliberately yanked the bandage, making Suigetsu flinch in pain, and held it there for agonizingly slow seconds before circling the cloth around Suigetsu's arm. "Well, we didn't kill as much as we wanted, but two of them are out of our way. Sasuke's not too happy about it though. I wouldn't be surprised if he's out brooding."

"Why? Isn't killing two Akatsuki members a good thing?"

"Since the two Akatsuki members killed weren't Itachi, then no. It's not a good thing by Sasuke standards." Naruto nodded, agreeing with the statement.

"So can you go into details?"

"About what? The fight? Didn't expect a girl like you to be interested in the bloody specifics," Suigetsu sarcastically commented.

"Not that. I meant details as in the names of who you killed. Details like... a mission report," Naruto said, not really caring about the shinobi term. If they saw the what he did to Sasuke, then they probably knew he wasn't a normal 'girl'. Suigetsu snorted at the statement.

"I haven't done that in years. But I think it goes in the lines of this, you and Karin left. We took on the Akatsuki. Fierce battle. Killed team members Kisame and Zetsu. Other members have escaped. We end up here with the prince missing. How's that sound?"

"Good enough."

"You know what's the weird thing? Sasuke had this all planned out and gave the battle plan before we fought. We killed Kisame and Zetsu for specific reasons. So I don't know why the hell he's acting this way." Naruto frowned as he tried to imagine Sasuke physically showing sadness. Even now, Naruto didn't expect Sasuke to give out his emotions so easily, even in front of him.

"So... why'd you kill Kisame and Zetsu?" Naruto sliced the cloth and firmly pressed it onto Suigetsu's back, making sure it would stick.

"Zetsu's the fly. He's the spy for the Akatsuki. We needed to get rid of him after we found him spying on Sasuke during a fight. Kisame, because of this sword." Suigetsu stood up stiffly and went over to the wall which held a large sword-shaped item wrapped in white bands that has slipped Naruto's vision earlier. He reached over, preparing to prop up the sword, but Karin quickly stopped his action.

"Don't even think about it," She called with her back turned while finishing the final touches with Juugo's wounds. Suigetsu sent her a quick scowl before returning to Naruto.

"You killed him just for the sword?" Suigetsu shrugged his shoulders at the question, as if his reason was valid enough to kill someone.

"Sasuke needed something good enough to bring me back."

"Bring you back?" Suigetsu scoffed at the question.

"You didn't think I would stay with Sasuke for all these years, did you? As if I could stand him acting like he was the fucking leader or something. It gets on my damn nerves." Naruto frowned. How come he had never heard of this before? If he thought of it, it _did_ make sense. Why would they stay with Sasuke all for this long amount of time? Naruto just never knew his suspicions were actually confirmed.

"So he gathered you up before the... Akatsuki thing?" Naruto didn't want to bring up what actually had happened at the battle scene.

"Yeah, it was harder for him to get me back unlike Karin who just went back like his lapdog." Suigetsu said, knowing said girl would hear him. Karin immediately scrunched up her face into a murderous scowl.

"It looks to me like you turn into a dog whenever some offers you a bone." Karin pointed to the sword which was her metaphorical bone.

"At least I was offered something. You came crawling back to Sasuke to fill his every whim. Doesn't that sound like a lapdog?" Suddenly, Naruto became the center of the heated battle as Suigetsu tried to prove their points to Naruto. Suigetsu quickly looked at Naruto for an answer to his question. "Doesn't it?"

"I just hadn't seen Sasuke for a long time. I thought it'd be nice to help him out. For memories," Karin pulled Naruto over which surprised him. Previously, she would ignore him whenever the subject of Sasuke would show up. Competition really does change you.

"Sure," Suigetsu inserted the rolling of eyes for good measure. "You probably jumped at his feet." Karin let go of Naruto and charged into the argument with Suigetsu. Naruto walked over to the quietest member who seemed neutral to the violent words.

"Are they always like this?" Juugo nodded. Naruto had learned earlier that Juugo wasn't as tight lipped as Sasuke but wasn't as talkative as Karin. He only spoke when spoken to. "You act like this is a normal thing that goes on." Juugo gave him a shrug before answering.

"You get used to it." Naruto turned back to the quarreling couple. Then, he turned back toward Juugo, remembering his earlier subject.

"So, Juugo. Why are you here? What did Sasuke offer you to bring you back?"

"I...," Naruto felt the mood of the conversation to light and casual to personal and private. "... owe him." Juugo's eye slowly moved over and focused on Naruto. "He's not as bad as you may think." Unconsciously, Naruto's body froze as he thought over what was just said.

"You can't be too sure," Naruto replied lowly. "You never know what goes on behind his eyes." Naruto thought about Sasuke's eyes, the ones that penetrated any attempt to guess their emotions. He thought he did get through the barrier but...

"Whatever's going on, it's not bad." Naruto remained silent at the statement.

"You know what? I'm leaving this place!" The loud shriek caused everyone's attention to go to the person who was standing in the center of the room.

"Where the hell are you going to go?" Karin scowled at Suigetsu's comeback before sputtering out the first thing that came to mind.

"Shopping! We're running out of supplies. I'll be doing something useful while you lie on your lazy ass."

"Go already," Suigetsu replied calmly, smirking at the girl. "We already have another person who can take your place." Suigetsu motioned to the other 'girl' in the room. Karin frowned before marching over to the door. Naruto, who was lying his back on the wall adjacent to the doorway, was tugged softly off his place.

"Come with me," She commanded softly. Naruto, ready to head out of the door instead of staying captive, stood and followed the girl. As soon as they headed outside, Naruto was dragged off to the market. So Karin wasn't kidding when she said she would go shopping. Whipping out a paper that Naruto hadn't seen before, Karin ripped it in half before handing it over to Naruto. He flipped it over and read the words. It was a shopping list. "We're running out of medical supplies and food. Here's some money," Karin placed some bills onto Naruto's hand. "That should cover it. As soon as your done, head back to the hotel." Naruto watched as Karin 'dismissed' him and walked away. A small revelation of Karin being the mother of the group surprised Naruto a bit before he walked away in search of the listed items.

Karin didn't mention that he was supposed to come back at any specific time, did she? Naruto smiled as he wasted some time exploring the town. It really was a nice place. His eyes frolicked around the scenery, bouncing from a display of flowers to a display fruits to the fields of water near the city's shipping port. The town square was bustling with business which proved hazardous to Naruto as he avoided getting run over from the sprinting kids to the racing adults. He frowned before finally turning serious about his task and looked at the list, noticing the supplies were in the direction opposite of where he was going. He sighed before turning back into the town market.

The sun was touching the edge of the horizon when Naruto had gone through his list. As soon as there was a bench in sight, Naruto sprinted over and sat down, resting his tired feet. He sighed as he sat the bags down and laid his head back, sullen thoughts were coming back to Naruto. Without the distraction of Hebi or the distracting of doing errands for them, Naruto's mind was completely free to finish his 'assessment' that was interrupted yesterday. Naruto's eyes clouded over as he thought of what had happened. Of course, he knew exactly what happened, but he never had time to actually let his thoughts seep into the actions. Sasuke had, in one simple word that contained so much meaning, betrayed Naruto.

Naruto's hand tightened. He didn't know what to think as a fleet of emotions passed through his body like a tidal wave. Naruto was simply shipwrecked as he realized Sasuke had lied to him the whole time. Naruto's clouded eyes deepened into a darker shade when he took notice that he was... is lying, too. It-

"Hey." Naruto's head whipped toward the source of the soft greeting that belonged to no one other than...

"Sasuke." Naruto looked at Sasuke before quickly turning his head away, realizing the object of his scorn wasn't worth looking at. His body visibly relaxed though when he realized he didn't want to go through the anger again. Sure, punching Sasuke did help to relieve some anger, but it would become repetitious eventually. It wouldn't be worth it to hit Sasuke every time he came in contact with Naruto. His eyes closed slowly, trying to close off any feelings until he reached a neutral bliss. "What do you want?" He asked tiredly.

Sasuke watched the visible mental actions going on in the girl before answering.

"Why are you out here?" Or asking. Naruto wordlessly pointed to the bags, but Sasuke's silence told Naruto he demanded a more specific explanation.

"Karin wanted to get away from Suigetsu and dragged me along to go shopping. We split up, and I was resting when an annoying bastard came to bother me." Naruto's frowned even larger when his direct insult didn't affect the Uchiha at all. "So I'm going to ask again, what do you want?"

"I came to see why you were out here. That much is obvious." Naruto scrunched up his face at the subtle, and not so direct insult.

"You came and found out. Please leave." Naruto leaned his head back and closed his eyes, hoping Sasuke would leave him to think.

"It's not safe out here at night. We're going back together."

"I can go back by myself." Naruto propped his head back up before looking boredly at Sasuke. "And when did you ever care about my safety. Aren't I just another object to help you in your ambition?" Naruto asked, remembering the words Karin had so carelessly said before when he was 'unconscious'.

"Hn." The mist in Naruto's eyes cleared, and the anger he was trying so hard to suppress came to life.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He whispered harshly. "Why can't you..." Naruto paused as he struggled to voice the words in his mind. "Why can't you give me a straight answer? For once at least." Naruto looked straight into Sasuke's eyes and asked. "Was it all real or not? Did everything you do before was just a plan to give me to the Akatsuki?" One word could destroy Naruto while another could save him. Naruto watched as Sasuke closed his eyes in concentration before opening them to look at Naruto.

"I didn't do it to hurt you." Naruto stopped all his emotions from exploding at the very instant. Sasuke's words were as close to an 'I'm sorry' than Naruto would ever get, and it was the straightest answer Sasuke had ever given him. A solid 'No' would've hurt Naruto even more.

"It happened anyways," He whispered before standing up. Sasuke bent over to pick up the bags, but Naruto picked them up faster. He walked in front of Sasuke, deciding he wouldn't be able to stand walking beside Sasuke. It was too much. As soon as he saw the hotel, he darted in and dumped the bags on the floor in front of the group before heading toward his room. It was a long day, and Naruto was awfully tired.

Sasuke came in behind the girl, watching her figure quickly disappear before turning toward the questioning stares of his group. He ignored them and walked to his own room. After the resounding click echoed in the silent main room, Suigetsu finally got up the nerve to break it the thick quiet that surrounded them all.

"What the hell happened?" Karin wondered in agreement, too curious to start a fight.

"I don't know."

"Sasuke clearly doesn't know how to handle the ladies." The sarcastic comment broke the spell on Karin, but Suigetsu was already leaving to his room. Karin sighed before standing up and calling it a night, also. Juugo stayed in the center of the room, debating against his next move. Finally, when his mind was all made up, he walked over to the girl's room and knocked softly, careful not to bother the other resident in the large suite. The door opened slightly, and Juugo took notice of her relief of seeing him.

"What do you want?" He asked softly.

"Can I talk to you?" She looked around unsure before sliding the door open to let him in. She walked over to her bed and sat on the futon before asking her next question. "What do you want to talk about?" Naruto wanted to go to sleep, but the fact that Juugo was the only one who hadn't bothered him the whole day lessened the annoyance of keeping his drooping eyes open.

"I want to tell you why I owe Sasuke. My life." Juugo watched as a small mask of surprise slipped onto her face. "I had this disorder. As much as I wanted to ignore it, I couldn't. I had these urges... to kill." Juugo waited to see if any other reactions would happen. When the girl nodded her head for him to continue, Juugo got on with his story. "I couldn't stop it no matter how hard I tried. All those people... I never meant to hurt them. I even went to Orochimaru for help, but there was never a cure. Only a person would be there to control me whenever the urges became too intense. I was locked up in a cell for most of my time there. Sasuke came, and I joined him in his group. When we split up, I planned on going back to the cell and never see daylight again. Sasuke came up to me and presented a cure he had worked on." Juugo watched as the emotions disappear when Sasuke's name was said and reappear when he told her that Sasuke was indeed the one who saved him. "If it wasn't for that, I would be in that cell for the rest of my life. Now, I can finally live. I am in debt to Sasuke."

"He wouldn't make you repay that debt, would he?" Naruto even knew that Sasuke wasn't on the level of bastardness.

"No, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like I owe him, does it?" An awkward pause filled the air before Naruto disrupted it.

"So is this what you wanted to tell me?" Juugo shook his head.

"No, I came here to ask you to give Sasuke a chance." Naruto's anger spiked up, not at Juugo but the thought of giving Sasuke a chance, before it fell down again. He breathed a deep sigh, remembering his anger management lessons and used them to calm him down. It turns out that anger is one of those things that increases your stress to a large degree. Without the anger, Naruto felt... somewhat better.

"What chance? He wouldn't want it," Naruto stated calmly.

"He doesn't know what he wants. He's confused," Juugo rebutted.

"I don't know. This is Sasuke Uchiha we're talking about. He wants to kill his brother, not flirt with some girl. I know he's not confused about that."

"Maybe, but at least give him the chance to be his friend." Juugo paused as he looked at Naruto for an answer to his request. Naruto closed his sleepy eyes before opening them to give Juugo a tired smile.

"I never took that chance away." True, Naruto would never cut off the bond that he shared with Sasuke over his feelings (even if they were aching with a tearing pain). No matter what, Sasuke would always have Naruto. Whether he wanted him or not. Juugo gave off a small smile before going back to his normal neutral frown.

"He never wanted to hurt you." Juugo raised a hand to stop Naruto from replying and continued. "He told us of his plans for protecting you even before the Akatsuki wouldn't refused to keep their side of the deal. Sasuke," Juugo paused and looked into Naruto's eyes, knowing that he would understand exactly what he was telling him. "... never killed anyone during his training with Orochimaru. When he came to retrieve me, he didn't kill the people at the facility. There was only the condition of someone standing in the way of him and Itachi would he then kill a person, but I've heard of a story that Sasuke didn't even kill the person that tried to stop him from leaving his home village, even when that person jeopardized his dream of killing Itachi." Naruto eyes glazed over when he was reminded of the old memory. "Though Sasuke would probably give up his life for his ambition, but I don't think he'd be that willing to give up the life of an innocent soul for his ambitions." Juugo leaned over and repeated his earlier words. "And you know that." And Naruto closed his eyes in thought, knowing Juugo was right. "He never planned on hurting you physically." Naruto nodded. Juugo stood up and opened the door to leave.

"Good night," Naruto whispered before gently closing the door. He turned off the light in his room, the moonlight drifting into his room for nature's night light, and slid into the bed. He closed his eyes knowing that while he had unconsciously had given his forgiveness for Sasuke for his plan, knowing that he never planned to physically harming him but emotionally... Naruto wasn't sure if the forgiveness was going to come that easily. Slowly, sleep drifted over him taking Naruto away from his thoughts for only a moment.

* * *

Naruto was sitting on the floor watching the others pack up. The group was heading off again. To where? The group refused to tell Naruto or even give him so much as a little clue, and that frustrated Naruto to no end. Karin packed up the medical equipment while Juugo communicated with birds, asking them what they've seen and making sure where the group was headed was the right way to go. After seeing that display, Naruto was amazed by Juugo's ability and asked if Juugo would translate Naruto's words to the bird, but his request was shot down when Sasuke told them that no foolishness was allowed. Naruto pulled out his Uzumaki pout but left to ignore the Uchiha bringing him to where he was now. Sitting in the hotel room, watching boredly at what the occupants were doing. Out of nowhere, Naruto was attacked from behind.

"Suigetsu!" He shouted as he was tackled to the floor. Suigetsu grabbed the back of Naruto's shirt and pulled him up. Naruto sent him an annoyed look. "Why'd you do that?" A smile came onto Suigetsu's face, and a small part of Naruto's mind told him that he should be worried.

"I wanted to give you a present." Naruto eyed the smile that was still on Suigetsu's face before sighing.

"What is it?" Suigetsu threw a bundle down onto Naruto's lap. He looked down to see it was clean, neatly folded clothing. "Uhh...," Naruto mumbled, not really knowing what to say.

"I thought it'd be nice if you changed clothes. You've been wearing those," Suigetsu pointed at the ones Naruto had on. "... for a while now." Naruto picked up the bundle, closely eyeing it, before setting it down.

"It hasn't been that long. You don't have to do this for me." Naruto frowned. Even if the clothes were dirty, he fought much better in them. Naruto threw out his hygiene cares after becoming a ninja. On the battlefield, you have to face worse things than having to wear two day old clothes.

"I want to." The grin was still there on Suigetsu's face. Naruto narrowed his eyes, knowing he was up to something.

"I mean it. There's no-" Suigetsu had let go of the piece of Naruto's shirt he had grabbed to pull him up. The action made Naruto realize that he could feel a small breeze blowing at his back. His hand automatically reached behind him, feeling the rips in his shirt. He turned toward Suigetsu and narrowed his eyes to make a frightening glare.

"Oops." Suigetsu rubbed the back of his head in a sign to show embarrassment but his mischievous smile had grown larger. Naruto took the clothes that was given to him and headed toward his room to change. From behind him, he thought he could hear Suigetsu faintly yelling out, "I put some shoes for you in your room." He ignored the comment and continued walking.

Naruto closed his door and proceeded to take off his shirt. But before he could even pull it over his head, the cloth ripped in two, leaving Naruto to curse Suigetsu in his mind. He threw the ripped shirt in the corner and picked up the one Suigetsu supplied for him. Unfolding it, Naruto felt his annoyance spike when he realized that it was something that would be more revealing than his waitress outfit. Naruto unraveled the whole outfit and noticed that while he may be quite a piece of eye candy in the scanty material, there was no way fighting in the outfit would be easy. Naruto looked over at his shirt from earlier and realized that there wasn't much of a choice but to wear the clothes that Suigetsu had gotten him.

After a long period of forcing his body to get into the clothes, Naruto breathed a sigh when he was done. Who knew that clothing could be so complicated to put on?

A knock came from the door grabbed Naruto's attention. He walked over and slid the door opening, eyes slightly widening in surprise when he saw Karin there.

"Karin?" She ignored his call and studied his outfit. She shook her head in a form of disgust at the exposure and looked up to face Naruto directly.

"Why are you wearing this?"

"Well, Suigetsu-"

"That explains it." She gave him another bundle of clothes before leaning in closely. "Don't fall for Suigetsu's tricks," She whispered lowly. "He's an _idiot_." Naruto nodded at the 'friendly' advice and closed the door. He dumped the bundle on the floor and breathed in a deep breath at the thought of having to take off the clothes that had taken forever to have gotten on. As he stripped off the outfit Suigetsu had given him, Naruto knew that he wasn't that mad at the idea of changing. After putting on the more comfortable and useful outfit, Naruto came out of the room to face the disappointed face of Suigetsu, annoyed face of Karin, and bored face of Juugo.

"Where's Sasuke?"

"He's outside. We're all waiting for you," Suigetsu answered.

"Well, I had to change into a shirt that required help from another person all by myself. The pants you gave me the hardest pants to get into, and the boots took another chunk of time." Naruto sent an annoyed/murderous grin toward Suigetsu who felt some shivers running up his spine. "Then, after that, I had to change into another outfit." The smile changed into a grateful one that was sent toward Karin who looked away from the acknowledgement. Naruto looked toward the door before looking back toward the group. "So... are we leaving now?" Suigetsu nodded before the group stood up. Naruto stood by the door as Suigetsu and Karin passed him. Juugo paused and looked at Naruto, reminding him of last night's conversation through his eyes. Naruto gave a confirmative nod to the silent question and followed Juugo out the door, and then, they were off.

Naruto quickly caught up to Sasuke who stood at the head of the group.

"Hi," Naruto greeted. A flicker of surprise showed up in Sasuke's eyes before it quickly faded back to normal.

"Hi," Sasuke boredly replied.

"So," Naruto quickly thought of a way to turn the conversation casual and light. "... are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Hn." Naruto sent a frown toward Sasuke before smiling again.

"Bastard," He called out. This reminded him of their old routine. Naruto quickened his pace until he stood as the head of the group, the one leading them. Naruto walked with renewed confidence, never knowing that Sasuke's eyes were following him the whole time.


End file.
